


I Love You Dressed in Fire and Blood

by ghost_maiden_of_delphi



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Demons, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst and Romance, Angst and Tragedy, Blood, Blood and Violence, Canon Bisexual Character, Canon Lesbian Character, Canon Lesbian Relationship, Demon Summoning, Demons, Edeleth, F/F, Family Loss, Female My Unit | Byleth, Fictional Religion & Theology, Fire Emblem: Three Houses Black Eagles Route, Gay Edelgard von Hresvelg, Religious Conflict, Religious Imagery & Symbolism, Shapeshifting, Shipping, Soul Selling
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-28
Updated: 2020-12-22
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:21:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 16
Words: 49,004
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25552729
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ghost_maiden_of_delphi/pseuds/ghost_maiden_of_delphi
Summary: Edelgard has lost everything, and while there's no way to reclaim it she can still take vengeance on those who hurt her. She puts everything on the line, even her soul, to bind an immortal, demonic warrior, but what she gets is far from what she might have expected.How will the demon Byleth help her carry out her plans? How will Edelgard save her own soul? And what could blossom between these two down a road paved with fire and blood?A Fire Emblem: Three Houses Edeleth demon summon AU, set in a modern Fodlan still constrained by the Church of Seiros.
Relationships: Edelgard von Hresvelg & My Unit | Byleth, Edelgard von Hresvelg/My Unit | Byleth
Comments: 135
Kudos: 331





	1. A Contract is Bound

This time it was going to work.

Edelgard had checked the notes hundreds, maybe thousands of times. She corrected the mistakes from before. The lodestones were moved where they needed to be. The runic patterns in the outer ring were painfully, fastidiously inscribed perfectly in the finest, most delicate script she could manage.

The red paint was gone, replaced with swirls and swoops made from real, human blood. Well, partly. Edelgard could only harvest so much from herself, just a few pints in the last week, but she figured it would be just fine mixed with a gallon or two of pig’s blood. It should have been enough.

This time was going to work, she was sure.

There was no light save for what the flickering candles threw upon the cold, concrete walls and floor. Edelgard was dressed only in voluminous blood-red robes, naked underneath for fear of contaminating the ritual. The basement’s chill against her ivory skin made her shiver, but she could bear it, at least for now. She’d endured much worse and more in pursuit of this goal.

She threw the hood back, letting long, white locks flow free before raising her hands in the air.

“I invoke the spirits of wind and magic,” she called to the darkness, “Upon my name and blood, to carry upon their wings this message past Abaddon and the gates, though hounded maw and burning rings. Spirits, deliver my words.”

Slightly, imperceptibly, the hem of her cloak shifted as though in a gentle breeze. She set her jaw and continued.

“I adjure thee, Infernus, I whose blood is bound by bonds of duty a hundred generations gone. I invoke thee by the power of the names, by Adonay, Eloim, Jehovan, Mathim, Pithonae, Salamandrae. I call thee through blood spilled in sacrament, the force of life traded for word and power. By my name, Edelgard von Hresvelg, I command thee, hear my call and serve my will, beasts of hell and forces of perdition. Hear my call!”

As sudden as a lightning flash, the blood runes and shapes of the summoning circle glowed as bright as a crimson moon. Edelgard’s breath caught in her throat and her heart raced.

It was working. She was right!

“I adjure thee, by the name of the Marchioness of the Gate, by the word of Marchosias, answer my call!”

From the ground thin streams of black mist rose and swirled about the center of the circle, clouding so deep that nothing could be seen within save for the orange flash of what could have been embers.

“ _Child of Hresvelg_ ,” a deep, grinding voice rung out, _“Cease thy cries, for I am here. But the pact thou callest was marked in blood long since dried and flaked away. What couldst thou ask of me with so little to claim?_ ”

Edelgard could feel her heart in her ears. She hadn’t expected it to challenge her.

“I-I-I have an accord! A line of service promised to the Hresvelg line!”

“ _Aye, an accord sworn to thine ancestor, one already paid in full. What hath I to gain from your deal now? What dost thou offer me?_ ”

She’d been worried about this. “I…I can make a new deal!”

_“I ask thee again, with what? Thy family is reduced in both size and significance. You have no power to give, I have no need for your meager wealth, and you have no way to bear me a fresh sacrament.”_

“I…if my plan works…I’ll have power! More than my ancestor offered, and then you’ll be able to ask anything of me. Souls? Wealth? Pleasure? Nothing will be beyond my reach?”

_“Oh? And what can though ask of me to provide such grandeur?”_

“A servant. A demon, bound to my will. One powerful enough to wage war in my name.”

_“Not a small request, child. What war dost thou wish to wage? Whom has angered though enough to incite such ire?”_

“You know about my family? What happened?”

“ _Aye_.”

“Then you know who I’m fighting.”

_“Ah. Not an easy battle to fight, child, and harder yet to win. But how can you promise profit from such an ordeal?”_

“You know my family. What we’re capable of, and what we can do. Do you doubt the lengths I will go to see this finished?”

The stone beneath her vibrated and shook, and for a moment she feared the ground would open and swallow her, but then she realized the vibration was the product of deep, thunderous laughter by the demonic voice.

_“Centuries since has a mortal dared speak as such to me! A brilliant offer, my dear, but I require security. One year you have to make good upon your end. One year to obtain something that elicits my interest, and, if you fail, I shall take your soul as collateral. Are we agreed?”_

Edelgard paused for the slightest of moments, but there was no second choice.

“Deal.”

He laughed again and she could hear wood creak in the house above.

_“Tell me now, child, what demon you wish to bind?”_

“A powerful one. One versed in blood and war.”

“ _Of course_ ,” he laughed, “ _Power you wish, power you shall receive. Say the words, child, and call the agent of your will._ ”

The smoke swirled and billowed, extinguishing the light inside.

“I adjure thee, Marchosias, lord of the gate, send to me a messenger, and agent of my will to be bound to my soul as we are of one. A soldier, a warrior of blood and steel to deliver my enemies to death and ruin. Messenger! Demon! Warrior! I summon thee! I summon thee! I summon thee!”

The cloud of black mist and smoke surged suddenly, overtaking the room entirely before, in a blink, it retracted to a single, tiny spot at the center of the circle. It glowed bright and orange, hanging in the air for a moment, then two, then three.

Edelgard edged forward, careful not to disturb the candles and stones lain about the ritual space, eager to get a closer look at it. It was a perfect sphere, barely bigger than a marble, but, as she peered closer, the interior flickered and glowed like the sun itself. She reached out a hand, a single finger, to touch it, moving closer and closer and, as her skin came within just a few inches of the sphere, it burst like a grenade, sending force, smoke, fire, and wind in all directions.

Every piece of the circle was thrown out, and Edelgard was pushed all the way to the far wall where the back of her head hit solid concrete, her vision flashed white, and she fell into darkness.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As Edelgard’s senses returned her world was darkness and pain. The back of her skull throbbed, and as she reached back she felt a thick bump that made her wince at contact. She sighed. She supposed she should feel lucky, she could have died right there. That may have even been the demon’s plan so he could collect his prize ahead of schedule.

Demon.

She summoned it. It worked!

The basement was pitch black, but she heard something…a subtle shift of something near the center of the room. She fumbled along the wall, hands searching wildly for-there! The light switch!

With a click warm, tungsten bulbs illuminated along the walls and spreading through the room. The circle came into full view and Edelgard perceived the damage: the large crystals she laid out had been thrown so hard most shattered against the walls, and the few that didn’t leftdeep gashes along the stone. The candles were pulverized and she found the ritual knife she brought in with its blade embedded deep in the large, cherry wood door out of the room.

But that didn’t matter. Not to Edelgard. What mattered was only the dark figure stirring at the center of the room.

Within the smallest circle, just beg enough to hold a person, light skin with spaces of black scales began to unfurl. Two scaly wings, as big as an eagle's unfurled from its back. It had a leathery tail tipped with a spade. Long horns curled along its head before they ran into the long mane of deep, dark blue hair that was cropped to frame its youthful, feminine face.

…Feminine face? The depiction of demons she’d seen were usually based on conjecture and verbal accounts, so they weren’t always consistent or clear, but she couldn’t think of any that looked like this: like a young woman with sweet, youthful features that gave her a look of subtle beauty. Some parts made sense, like her hands and feet which were armored in black scales and ended with long, sharp talons. Though, again, less so were the soft, dramatic curves of her-

Edelgard blushed like a radish and covered her eyes. Why did she have those! What did a demon need with…with a body like that? There was a shuffling and Edelgard heard the click of nails on stone. Carefully, she moved her hands and looked back towards the demon.

She was stood now, her wings gratefully covering most of her body as her hands explored the outside of the circle where they met resistance as though she were surrounded by an invisible wall. She gazed at the ends of her sharp nails, then looked up at Edelgard and cocked her head.

Edelgard took a careful step forward. “Demon, I demand thee name thyself.”

The demon just kept staring at her with a visage of stone calm.

“Name yourself! What is your name?” She gestured at herself, then the demon.

The demon replicated Edelgard’s motion which parted her wings and revealed a good deal of pale flesh that made Edelgard flush and waver her arms. “No, no! P-p-p-p-please c-c-cover yourself!” She motioned covering her chest, and the demon did so, crossing her arms over her chest.

Edelgard sighed. “Okay. Let’s try this again.” She pointed at herself. “My name is Edelgard,” she pointed at the demon, “What is yours?”

The demon cocked her head and pointed at herself. “N…name,” her voice was thin and labored, as though she were unaccustomed to using it, “N-name…B-by…leth.”

“Byleth? That’s you?”

She nodded and reached out again, touching the barrier between them.

“It’s a binding circle,” Edelgard explained, “It holds you inside until I decide to release you. Do you know why you’re here?”

She shook her head. “N…no.”

“You’re here to serve me, understand? Obey my will and do what I ask. We’re bound together until the contract is up.”

“C-contract…b-bound…” She considered that a few moments and nodded. “B-b-bound…serve.”

“Good. While here, you will not harm anyone unless I tell you, or they intend me harm, understood?”

She nodded.

“And you will not leave the house unless I tell you to.”

She nodded again. She gestured around her. “H-house?”

“Yes, though there’s more of it above us. I’m going to release the seal, okay?”

She nodded.

Edelgard knelt down and scratched away some of the circle with her nail. Nothing perceptible happened, but when Byleth reached back out she met no resistance.

“No point dwelling down here. Come on, I’ll show you upstairs.”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After instructing the demon to wait in the parlor, Edelgard headed up to her room to change, and hopefully find something for Byleth to wear.

The Hresvelg home still bore some manner of the family’s former grandeur, a spacious, three-story mansion lined with crimson carpets and trimmed with antique, dark wood. Her room was fittingly grand, with a huge, four-poster bed and furniture that had likely been in the family for centuries, off-set only by the fairly new LCD screen of her computer on the old desk, and the glow of her digital alarm clock from the bedside table.

She slipped off the robe and extracted a white shirt and high, black trousers from the wardrobe. Once she’d donned them, she looked back for something for the demon woman, but it became quickly clear that nothing would accommodate her wings and claws without shredding.

She sighed, grabbed a spare blanket from the closet, and headed back downstairs.

Byleth was, as commanded, still in the parlor, though she’d wandered to examine the curios that decorated the large mantle over the hearth. She currently had a small, stone sphere carved with symbols in her hand and was looking at it while her body was on view to the world.

Edelgard shoved the blanket at her. “P-please, put this on.”

Byleth took the blanket and cocked her head.

Edelgard sighed. “Put it around you. Like clothes?”

“C-c-clothes?”

“Yes, please, just do it.”

She nodded and wrapped it around herself, covering her body and wings.

Edelgard sighed. “Thank you. I’ll see about getting something proper made for you soon, but, for now, please try to keep covered.”

Byleth nodded.

“Good. You can sit if you’d like.”

She nodded and took a seat on the large, velvet couch that faced the fireplace. Edelgard turned her attention to the bookshelves that lined the wall, selecting a thick, black book with a leather cover. She opened it and, with practiced precision, began to look through.

“Okay, Byleth, let’s see who you are.” She turned through a few more pages before finding it. “Here we are: Byleth, the Ashen Demon. Though it is spoken that this creature of Hell was a terrible warrior at one time or another, the knowledge of their deeds has fallen from the world above and below. That’s it. No illustration, no summoning instructions, no domains listed. Do you command any legions in hell?”

Byleth shook her head.

“Then are you an underling of Marchosias, the Duke?”

She cocked her head. “M-march-chosias?”

“You don’t know him? He facilitated our bond. Why do you have so much trouble speaking?”

She shook her head. “Not…speak…long…time.”

“Were you locked away? Imprisoned?”

She shrugged. Edelgard sighed.

“So, that’s the catch. I suppose I didn’t specify the powerful demon needed to have retained their power, did I? Well, that complicates things. Still, I’m sure you’re capable of more that you seem.”

Byleth just returned her words with a stone stare.

“I suppose we’ll have to figure it out.”

A cacophonous banging rang through the house.

“Lady Edelgard?” A voice shouted from outside. “Edelgard von Hresvelg, open the door in the name of the Goddess!”

Edelgard’s blood went cold. “The church. Why now? If they want to search the house I can’t stop them. Can you hide? Change your form?”

Byleth considered this a moment and nodded.

Edelgard had no choice but to trust her and headed to the foyer where the knocking came from. She grasped the handle, took a deep breath, and opened it.

On the doorstep, framed by the overgrown topiary of the grounds, was a tall man with green hair and a short goatee dressed in robes of gold and blue. He was flanked by two guards in dress uniforms with sabers and silver revolvers at their belts.

“Father Seteth,” Edelgard attempted pleasantly, “To what do I owe the pleasure of your company?”

Seteth kept his face hard and stern. “We received word that strange noises came from this mansion. I have been sent to ensure no offenses to the church or state were being undertaken.”

“I don’t know what you think a nineteen-year-old girl could be up to by herself, but I promise there’s nothing untoward, father.”

“You make a point, but it does not consider the limits of a nineteen-year-old child of Hresvelg. How do you explain the noises?”

“I was listening to music, of course. I hadn’t realized it was so loud, it must have sounded very odd at a distance. I’ll be more attentive to the volume in the future.”

“Music? I heard nothing as we approached.”

“I turned it off a little bit ago. Honestly, you shouldn’t trouble yourself so much with me. I wouldn’t dare cross the church.”

“I suppose you know better than most the cost, I suppose. Still, I-”

There was a clattering from a room away. Both guards immediately drew their guns.

“What was that?”

“I…uh…” Around the corner, in slow, languid steps, a black cat with a white mark on its forehead in the shape of a star entered the foyer. It walked to Edelgard and nuzzled against her leg. “Carmen? Oh, I mean, that’s Carmen, my cat. She must have been on the shelves, again.”

Seteth raised an eyebrow. “I wasn’t aware you owned a cat.”

“She’s, uh, new. It gets lonely in this big house, you know. I decided I could use a companion.”

“Hmm.” He raised a hand and the guards holstered their weapons. “I see. I apologize for the intrusion, Lady Edelgard. Have a good night. Oh, and, my lady?”

“Yes, father?”

“It’s unbecoming of a young woman to wear trousers. It may cause others to perceive you as unladylike.”

She grit her teeth. “I see. Thank you for the advice.

He smirked. “Take no offense, my Lady. I simply worry for your immortal soul.”

“I appreciate, father. But I promise you, there’s no need to worry about my soul. It’s well taken care of.”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Edelgard returned to the study where she found the sort of the clattering: a photo of herself as a young girl upon her father’s lap, a black and white cat clutched in her arms.

“So you can change your shape. And you picked up the form from this photo?”

The black cat entered behind her before it’s flesh and fur began to move and shift like torrid water and reformed into the nude visage of the demon Byleth. She nodded. “Cat.”

“Yes, my childhood pet. You did well, even if seeing her again gave me a bit of a scare.”

“Scare?”

“The real Carmen died some years ago. Seeing her returned from the grave was alarming, you can imagine. I suppose I should be glad you didn’t pick my father.”

Byleth nodded, though something in her eyes told Edelgard she didn’t quite understand.

“Nevermind that. Since you can change shape, does that mean you can take a more human form?”

Byleth cocked her head. “Human?”

Edelgard gestured to the great, leathery wings that covered her. “The wings, scales, and claws. As you can see, I don’t have those. No human does. Can you change them?”

Byleth thought about it and nodded. All at once, her wings, scales, and claws began to recede into her pale skin, and in only a few seconds she stood before Edelgard, appearing as human as she. And fully nude, as well. Edelgard flushed, grabbed the blanket from the floor, and shoved it into Byleth’s arms.

“G-g-good,” she stuttered, “At least, uh, now we can get real clothes for you.”

Byleth nodded.

“Alright. You’ll remain in this form unless I tell you otherwise, understood?”

She nodded again.

“Excellent,” she yawned, “Now, it’s late and I’ve had a long day. Let me show you where you can sleep. You do sleep, don’t you?”

Byleth nodded.

“Good. Follow me.” She led her upstairs to the room next to her own. Within was a similar furniture arrangement, though there was less in the way of modern convenience, and everything was covered in a thin layer of dust. “No one’s slept here since…well, nevermind. It’ll be your room for now.”

Byleth looked around like a lost puppy. “Sleep?”

Edelgard sighed. “Yes, sleep. Here, on the bed.” She patted the duvet for emphasis.

Slowly, Byleth climbed onto the bed, testing the bounce of the mattress as she did. “Soft.”

“Yes, quite. I’ll be in the room next door if you-” Soft skin wrapped around her wrist as Byleth reached out and grasped her, her grip surprisingly gentle.

“Sleep…together?”

Edelgard blushed. “N-n-n-no! You sleep here, b-b-but I sleep in another room. Over there,” she pointed towards her quarters, “Understand?”

Byleth looked between Edelgard and the direction of the room for a few moments. She nodded and released the young woman’s wrist, then curled into a tight ball on top of the comfortable and seemed to drift off instantly.

Edelgard sighed and made for the door. As she went to leave, she took a last look back at the demon slumbering peacefully on the bed. Seeing her, soft, beautiful, and peaceful, it was hard to imagine she could be of any help to Edelgard’s plans. Perhaps Marchosias had indeed swindled her, sticking her with a servant that had no ability to deliver on his promise. She sighed again. She supposed she would have to simply wait and see.

Tomorrow was a new day, after all, and there was still much to be done.


	2. The Measure of a Beast

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Edelgard determines what the demon Byleth is capable of.

Edelgard was woken by the sound of a fist banging on wood, but even its urgency was hardly enough to inspire her out of bed. She was so comfortable and warm, nestled in the thick, cotton blankets, a thin stream of sunlight peering through the window, the warm, snoring body nuzzled against her…

Wait.

Edelgard opened her eyes just a crack and took in the soft, curled form of Byleth pressed against her through the covers. She slept peacefully, little breathes making her nostrils flare with each exhale, unbothered by her continuing nudity.

Edelgard was suddenly much, much too warm for comfort, and scrambled out of the covers so fervently she fell to the cold hardwood beneath. This roused Byleth, who sat up, blearily rubbing her eyes.

“Morning?” She mumbled.

“W-w-w-w-what are you doing in here?” Edelgard shrieked. “Y-y-your room is over there!”

Byleth cocked her head. “Warmer.”

“Then why didn’t you use the blankets?”

She shook her head. “Better here. Together.”

Edelgard was bright red and could do little but sputter until she remembered the pounding on the door. She sighed.

“Look, just stay here while I see who that is.” She dug into a dresser drawer and pulled out a pair of silk pajamas, identical to the ones she was wearing, save they were dark green instead of black and placed them next to the demon. “And please, put these on.”

Byleth touched the silk lightly with her fingertips. “Soft. Clothes?”

“Yes. Please.” She quickly donned a red, fleece robe and padded out and down the stairs toward the sound. She was in no mood to deal with the Church again, today, but making them wait would only worsen the situation. She reached the foyer and threw open the door. “Yes?”

On the other side was a tall, pale young man with intense, gaunt features. He was dressed in a black vest over black shirt and trousers with fine, leather shoes and a black, wool peacoat. Despite the chill, he seemed to be diminishing under the morning sun. “Finally. You had me convinced something went wrong.”

“Good morning, Hubert. Could you not have called, first?”

He stepped in past her and hung his coat on the nearby rack. “I did, a dozen times but your phone is dead. Once it was past ten, I was worried you were as well.”

“Ten?” She rubbed her eyes. “I hadn’t realized I slept so late.”

“So,” he asked, his dark eyes twinkling, “Did it work? Did you summon it?”

She sighed. “Come upstairs and see for yourself.”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Edelgard pushed open her bedroom door just as Byleth pulled the pajama shirt over herself, and sighed in relief at not having to explain the state of her. Hubert followed her inside and looked quizzically at the strange woman who was now curiously examining the fabric that covered her.

“This is it? She looks…ordinary. And hardly powerful.”

“She’s called Byleth, the Ashen Demon. It’s hard to say how powerful she really is, but…Byleth?” Her head perked up toward Edelgard. “Show him your claw.”

Byleth lifted an arm before her face and, in an instant, it morphed into a black, scaly claw with long, sharp talons. “Claw.”

“Incredible,” Hubert breathed, “It can change shape?”

“And more. The church barged in last night after the summoning, but Byleth took the shape of my old cat to throw them off.”

Byleth nodded. “Cat.”

“Why is it talking like that?”

“She seems to understand what I say well enough, but I think she has trouble communicating vocally.”

“Perhaps she’s unfamiliar with our language?”

Edelgard shook her head. “She’s said words that I hadn’t said to her, and she seems to know what they all mean. I read that demons tend to have the gift of tongues which gives them knowledge of all languages.”

“Then perhaps it’s an issue of disuse?” Hubert considered. “Demon, when were you last summoned?”

Byleth looked at him and cocked her head. “Summoned?”

“Yes. Have you been brought to this world before? Bound to another human?”

She shook her head.

“That must be it.”

“But Marchosias spoke well enough,” Edelgard countered, “Byleth, what were you doing in hell before you came here?”

“S-sleeping.”

“For how long?”

She shrugged and played with the hem of her shirt.

Edelgard sighed. “We likely won’t get to the bottom of this yet. She’ll likely regain her speech with time. For now, we should get the measure of her abilities so we know how to use her for our plans.”

Hubert nodded. “Yes, the sooner the better. Just one question, Edelgard. What’s she doing in your room?”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

They ushered Byleth downstairs to a large dining room where Hubert and Edelgard pushed the table aside to give them room.

“Byleth, please reveal your claws, but not your wings or tail.”

Byleth nodded and her hands and bare feet became scaled and sharp. “Claws.”

Edelgard nodded. “Good. Now, let’s see what you can do. Besides those and your shapeshifting, what other powers do you have?”

“Powers?”

“I mean can you summon flames? Control objects with your mind? Perhaps you can communicate with animals or command vermin to do things?”

The demon just looked at her, blankly, and cocked her head.

Edelgard sighed. “What do you know how to do?”

Byleth looked at the floor, then back to her summoner. “I know how…fight?”

Now Hubert sighed. “That’s helpful and descriptive.”

“It’s fine. What little description I read called her a warrior, so her powers must be physical.” She took a deck of cards from her pocket and held up a single card. “Let’s test your speed. I’m going to throw this in the air. I want you to catch it before it hits the ground, understand?”

She nodded.

“Good. Three, two, one, now!”

She tossed the card straight up in the air. Byleth watched it rise, then fall and, just when it passed Edelgard’s eyes again, she moved. There was only a blur of hair, scales, and red red silk, and had one blinked, it would seem as though the demon were suddenly stood behind the pair, holding the card gently between two claws.

“Incredible,” Hubert breathed.

Edelgard smiled. “I think that’s more than impressive, don’t you? Now, Byleth, see this card?”

She held up the Queen of Hearts and Byleth nodded.

“I want you to do the same thing, but only catch this one. Understand?”

She nodded.

Without bothering to count this time, Edelgard place the queen back in the deck and hurled the whole stack into the air. Byleth watched for a fraction of a second, deep blue eyes wide before she moved. She was barely a blur this time, and before they’d let out their breaths, she was back where she began, the Queen of Hearts impaled on one of her claws.

Edelgard applauded and giggled. “Perfect! I didn’t even see her take a step, did you?”

Hubert gulped and shook his head.

“And that vision! She saw it so easily! We should see how strong she is.” She dashed out of the room and returned with a length of copper pipe.

“Where did you get that?”

“We had work done a few years ago, the garage is full of them. Here, Byleth, can you bend this?”

Byleth took it and twisted it into a pretzel without an ounce of effort on her face.

Edelgard squealed. “She’s like a super woman!”

“It’s a good display,” Hubert admitted, “But does this help us? Most of our plan doesn’t involve fighting if we can help it.”

“But now we won’t have to avoid it.”

“Our first task is breaking into a building. How can she help us do that?”

Edelgard grinned. “Well, Hubert, I imagine when they designed security for the church, they weren’t thinking about her, were they?”

“I…I suppose not.”

“We should do it tonight.”

“What? Lady Edelgard, we need to plan.”

“We’ve been planning for months, Hubert, and we finally have her with us. We’re ready. We need to be.”

He sighed. “I…okay. It’s your call. We can review what we have and use today to incorporate her into it.”

“You can do that. I need to take her to get clothes of her own.”

“Is that really necessary?”

“Mine won’t fit her perfectly, and we can’t keep her out of public forever. We need her to be able to blend in.”

He rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Fine, I trust your judgment. I’ll stay here and begin working.”

She nodded. “Good. Now, Byleth, let’s find something that will fit you and head into town.”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Edelgard’s point ended up being a good one, as they had trouble finding anything in her closet that would work for the demon who was tall enough that all her skirts and trousers rode up too high. Edelgard had no issue guiding Byleth into shifting to repair this, but when the topic came to the fact that the demon’s bust was too large for most of her shirts, all comments died in the young woman’s throat. They ended up opting for a gray sweater that was a size too large for Edelgard, a black knee skirt that became a mini skirt, and a pair of roomy, black boots Edelgard kept for when she needed to wear thick socks for the weather.

At that, they finally headed into the bustling, modern city of Enbarr. While the center bore tall building of crystalline glass and steel, the area near the Hresvelg manor, the township of Nuvelle, was much more quaint with vintage brick and stone buildings that housed a variety of cafes, boutique shops, bistros, and anything else a trendy, well-to-do Adrestian could need. As noon approached, the morning chill had given way to a fairly moderate autumn day, so the demon and her summoner opted to walk into town.

While Edelgard was pleased that Byleth seemed to attract no undue attention, the demon was easily distracted, diverting off their path to examine cars, trees, and even a public trash can, enough to the point that they had to walk with Edelgard holding her by the arm.

Byleth looked at her as they walked. “Hot?”

“W-w-w-w-what?”

She pointed at the young woman’s cheek. “Red. Edelgard…warm?”

“N-no, I’m…just don’t worry about it. Here, this shop should be fine.”

It was a public boutique with the words ‘Atelier Aquila’ inscribed in gold on the door. Within were dozens of racks of clothes and mannequins decked in the latest trends. An older woman with long, black hair and round glasses approached them.

“Welcome, ladies. How can I help you today?”

“My, uh, friend needs a new wardrobe. Several outfits for all occasions.”

Her eyes twinkled. “Wonderful. Young lady, how would you describe your style?”

“Style?”

“I mean what do you prefer to wear?”

“Wear…clothes?”

“Well, yes, preferably,” she laughed.

“Just find something that looks good. She’s starting fresh.”

“Ooh, a blank slate! I love it, let’s take a look around, my dear.”

It was an agonizing hour as the saleswoman seemed intent on touring every rack of clothes in the store and attempting to get Byleth’s opinion on them, which became no more verbose with time. Though her mastery of qualifiers improved.

“And how about this jacket?”

“Jacket? It’s…black?”

“You’re right, dear, its the perfect shade for you.” She grinned as he threw it on the stack.

This happened at least a hundred times.

Finally the clothes were chosen, put in bags, and rung up.

“That will be four thousand eagles, miss.”

Edelgard sighed, pulled out a checkbook, and wrote out the amount. It was more than she expected, and close to the limit of what she could afford. It would be a leaner month to come for her. No matter, she supposed. It wasn’t like she’d need it for much longer.

She handed over the check and was wished a fond farewell as they exited, arms full.

The headed back to the edge of the district, somewhat slower for their effort.

“Now,” she explained as they walked, “When we leave the house you need to be dressed. In fact, try to be dressed all the time. I’ll show you how some of this works when we get back. It’s simple except for a few of the dresses and-” She stopped and sighed. “We forgot bras.”

“Bras?”

“Yes,” she blushed, “Look, I’ll explain later, we just need a few from the place down-”

Less than ten feet away the door to a stationery shop burst open and a large, middle-aged man with a trim beard and dressed in an apron was thrown onto the street.

“Please,” he groaned, “I didn’t…”

Two men dressed in the same garb as the guards that accompanied Seteth to Edelgard’s door the previous night burst out after him, roughly lifting him with his arms behind his back.

“By the authority of the Church of Seiros, you’re under arrest!”

“But why?” He cried.

“For attempts to incite heresy and derision of the Goddess.” Without another word, they cuffed him and threw him into an unmarked black car on the street nearby before getting in themselves and speeding away.

“It’s a shame, isn’t it?” A lyrical voice said from behind them.

Edelgard rounded on a petite, fresh-faced young woman with long, curly green hair. She was dressed in a fine black blouse that covered her up to her neck and a matching ankle skirt, both trimmed with gold thread.

“Flayn.”

“Good afternoon, Lady Edelgard. It’s good to see you.”

“What happened?”

“Ah, I was shopping for new pens when I heard that dreadful man say the most unkind things about the Church. He clearly didn’t know who I was, else he likely wouldn’t have disclosed such things.”

“So you called the inquisitors.”

She nodded. “As is the duty of any pious woman when faced with such heresy.”

“What did he say?”

“Oh, I wouldn’t repeat it, suffice to say there were some terrible insinuations about the Archbishop, and the nature of the Church’s presence in Adrestia. But I’m being quite rude, my Lady. Who is your friend?”

“Oh, um, this is…By-, uh, Bella. She’s a friend of mine from childhood visiting Enbarr.”

Flayn nodded to her. “Bella? Pleased to meet you. I’m Lady Flayn Cichol, daughter of Cardinal Seteth Cichol.”

Byleth nodded back. “Flayn.”

“Uh, Bella doesn’t speak much. Terrible social, uh, anxiety, you know.”

“I see, so sorry. Though remember, through faith in Sothis, all things can be overcome. Still, it’s nice to know you have company in that big, empty house. I know my father worries after you often.”

“Does he?”

“Yes. It’s why he’s so attentive to you. Why, I can’t imagine being all alone like that, no friends or family to keep me company. Waking each morning to an empty home.”

“It’s not…so bad as that. I do find ways to manage, Lady Flayn.”

She nodded. “Of course. After all, with Sothis we are never truly alone, are we? Well, I must be off. Bernadetta!”

A young woman with purple hair cut in a bob dashed out of a nearby cafe with two to-go cups clutched in her hands. She was dressed much like Flayn, but her clothes lacked the gilded flourishes. “Y-y-y-y-y-yes, M-m-miss Flayn!”

“We’re going home. Please call the car.”

“R-r-r-r-right away, my Lady!”

Flayn nodded to the two of them and moved along, a frantic Bernadetta at her heels, trying desperately to juggle the cups and her cell phone at the same time.

Once they were finally out of sight, Edelgard sighed. “Let’s just go home.”

Byleth cocked her head. “Bras?”

“O-oh, yes. After that.”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The lingerie store was, fortunately, on their way and Edelgard managed to keep the trip both brief and inexpensive as they bought a handful of simple garments for Byleth. As they headed back, Edelgard was quiet, finding herself primarily occupied with trying to bury the knowledge of her bound demon’s cup size.

“Edelgard?” Byleth asked.

“Hmm? Oh, um, yes?”

“Flayn?”

“Still wondering about that?” She sighed. “The man you hid from last night is her father. And both of them are a part of the Church.”

“Church?”

“Yes. The Church of Seiros. Once upon a time, they were a religious organization that served the nations of Fodlan, but they only seem to be after power and control, now. Things like what you saw are happening more and more often in the Empire as it seems even a passive dislike of them has become a crime. Not to mention the stupid, draconian attitude they have toward women. It’s getting worse, and all because we had the courage to try and tell them no.”

“No?”

“It’s a long story. Do you know anything about the Church in hell? About the goddess Sothis?”

She shook her head.

“I see. Flayn isn’t…I’ve known her since she was very young. She doesn’t do these things to be cruel, like her father. She’s a true believer and does what she feels is right for everyone. I suppose it doesn’t matter, though, does it? The result is the same, and the suffering is no less.”

“Can…stop the…the Church?”

“It’s a difficult task. They have the full allegiance of the other two nations, and their own leadership is a close secret save for a few, like Seteth. We wouldn’t even know where to start. Besides, I’ve learned too well what happens to those who fight back against them.”

“Fight…”

She forced a smile. “But that’s changing, now. You’re here, and we can finally make them face justice for their crimes.”

“Justice,” Byleth nodded. She tried to match Edelgard’s smile, but it came out lopsided and forced, which was enough to make the summoner laugh.

“We’ll have to work on that, I suppose,” she chuckled, “Let’s hurry home. Hubert’s likely ready to share what he’s worked out.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, and thanks for all the lovely comments on the first chapter! I was a little worried considering how different this will be tonally from my last fic, but I hope this chapter at least proves that, no matter the tone, it's still all about dorks in love!
> 
> I should have chapter 3 out around this weekend, so I'll see you all then!


	3. Beginnings of Bloodshed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Edelgard learns if she has the stomach for revenge.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content Warning: Descriptions of Blood and Gore.

The Church of Seiros had difficulty, historically, developing a presence in the Empire. While they had been instrumental in its establishment, the Emperors since seemed to resent their desire to exert control over the governing of state. As such, with a few exceptions, there were fewer historical religious sites affiliated with Seiros in Adrestia than any other nation in Fodlan.

That had changed quite recently.

Once they became free to act as they wished, under the guise of restoring the faith and piety of the fallen nation, new churches sprung up incredibly quickly all over the country and Enbarr, in particular. They were nearly identical to the ancient structures, different only in their modern amenities and the lack of weathering and use.

Once such church, the Cichol Basilica, was based very near to Nuvelle, and a quite short distance from the Hresvelg manor. It had been built as the headquarters and workplace of Cardinal Seteth Cichol, one of the highest-ranked public figures in the Church of Seiros, and it was outside this building, late into the night, where Hubert, Edelgard, and Byleth made their silent approach, each dressed head to toe in black, their hair and faces concealed by a balaclava. Byleth fussed with hers, unhappy with it rubbing on her face.

It was a colossal, white stone building with twin spires and massive, stained glass mural all around the outside.

“Our first step,” Hubert whispered as they crouched in the bushes, “Is to evade the security cameras. Intelligence tells us they’re likely not watched this late, but we must not have evidence of our encroach. I believe I’ve charted a route through their fields of vision that should-”

“That’s over complicating it, isn’t it?” Edelgard asked. “Have you forgotten our secret weapon?”

“I have not, but I fail to see how-”

“Byleth, do you see that?” She pointed to a security camera at the corner of the building. Byleth nodded. “The glass is like an eye, and we can’t let it see us. Can you break every one around the building without any of them seeing you?”

Byleth looked around and considered it a moment. “Yes.”

“Good. Do it, then return to us.”

She nodded and, without warning, her scaled wings burst out of her back, shredding the black sweater to ribbons, leaving in a black tank top that Edelgard had, gratefully, thought to provide in case of this exact scenario. With a gust of wind, she shot straight up into the black sky.

“Edelgard, I know you’re eager to use the demon, but we should avoid leaving evidence behind.”

“It’s fine. As long as what we leave is beyond human ability, there’s no way to trace it back to us.”

He made a low, displeased sound. “My lady…what did you promise in exchange for this creature.”

“Don’t you remember? My ancestors already had an accord with Marchosias.”

“Yes, but we also considered that it wouldn’t be enough to gain his assistance. You must have offered him something. What was it?”

“Hubert…”

There was a sudden, soft sound of plastic shattering, followed by the same noise a dozen more times in the next few seconds. A moment after the last Byleth returned, next to them, on nearly silent wings that retracted into her back.

“Break every one,” she nodded.

Edelgard grinned under her mask. “Excellent. Come on, no time to lose.” She darted out of the bush, the other two in tow, and lead them around the back of the building.

Hubert pointed high to a small, round window of orange and yellow stained glass. “That’s Seteth’s office. According to our informant, he and the last employees left two hours ago. We just need to break in through one of these first-floor windows and make our way up there.”

Byleth raised a fist that grew and covered itself in scales. “Break in.”

“No, not literally,” he hissed, “Each one has a pressure alarm and lock, which we’ll need to disarm before we can-”

“Hubert?”

“Yes, Edelgard?”

“Does Seteth’s window have an alarm sensor on it?”

“No, my lady, it’s the fifth floor, so they did not consider it necessary to-”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Orange glass shattered as they burst through the window to Seteth’s office, Byleth carrying the humans in each hand with wings unfurled. She set them down and Edelgard patted her clothes.

“See? Much easier.”

“I…suppose,” Hubert croaked.

Seteth’s office was a perfectly round room lined with plush, green carpet. In the center was a wide, mahogany desk and the walls were lined with hirsute, curved shelves bearing hundreds of artifacts, photos, and religious items, as well as a handful of file cabinets.

“Start searching,” Edelgard ordered, “Anything that has to do with my family, or is from Ethereal Moon three years ago.”

Hubert nodded and they began pulling open drawers and sorting through the papers inside as quickly as they could.

Byleth approached Edelgard. “Search?”

“Oh, uh, you can…keep watch. The building should be empty, but just in case, you protect us.”

She nodded. “Protect Edelgard.” She went to the middle of the room and stood facing the door, though she was soon distracted by the shiny pens and stationery supplies on the desk.

The trio worked in silence for several minutes, the only sound the rustling of papers and the sliding of drawers.

“Here!” Edelgard exclaimed. “Hresvelg. Let’s see…nothing about the incident…there’s just…”

“My lady?”

“They're reports about me. About my movements, my interactions. Look at these photos of the house, there are dozens, and all different seasons over the past few years.”

“We suspected he was watching you.”

“Yes, but to this degree? What’s he after? What would any of this accomplish besides-”

“Freeze!” The shout came from behind them. They rounded to a youthful, red-faced guard in Church regalia, his revolver drawn and pointed directly at Hubert. “H-how did you get in here?”

Hubert, his arms up and palms out, spoke softly, “Don’t shoot, we’re unarmed. This doesn’t have to get-”

“Shut up! O-o-one move and I’ll blow your damn head off.”

“Look,” Edelgard said slowly, “We just-”

He leveled the gun at her. “You wanna die, bitch?!”

Byleth’s eyes widened as her pupils narrowed to pinpoints of black swimming in cobalt blue. She looked at the guard. “Protect Edelgard.”

“Edelgard? The Hresvelg Princess? Oh, you are a dead, stupid-”

There was no time to process what happened next. For Hubert and Edelgard, one moment the guard was stood there, alone, sweating and pointing his gun. The next, Byleth was behind him, her claws unleashed and absolutely drenched in blood.

The guard let out half a gasp before his torso exploded in a river of blood as he was nearly bisected at the stomach. He collapsed in two distinct heaps, piles of glistening entrails spilling from his broken abdomen as crimson soaked into the rug beneath.

“Byleth…” Edelgard whispered.

“By the Goddess,” Hubert breathed.

Byleth looked at her blood-covered hand then to the Edelgard. “Protect Edelgard.”

Hubert hunched over the desk and heaved a torrent of vomit onto the floor. Edelgard grabbed his shoulder. “Hubert? Hubert, we need to finish searching.”

“My…how,” he choked, “How can you-”

“I see it, too, Hubert,” she hissed, “I know, but we can’t let this be wasted. We won’t get a second try.”

He swallowed and nodded. Edelgard hurriedly tore through the desk drawers before she grasped a manila folder. “This…this is what we need.”

“Is it proof?”

“No, but it’s…it’s better. Byleth, get us out of here. We need to go home.”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It only took a minute for Byleth, the humans under each arm, to fly them back tot he Hresvelg home under cover of night. She landed in the back garden on a plot of soft, blue-green grass, and placed them gently down before landing and shifting back to her human form. Edelgard hurried them inside, and only once all the blinds were drawn did she turn on the lights and sink onto one of the plush couches in the living room.

“M-my lady,” Hubert croaked, pointing at her middle.

“What? Oh.” Byleth had hoisted her in the arm she’d used to kill the guard, so there was blood all over her sweater that was rubbing onto the sofa. She stood. “I’ll have to clean that, I suppose. And probably just burn the top.”

Hubert nodded, his face pallid and coated in sweat. “Perhaps you should clean off before we talk.” He looked at Byleth, still covered in blood. “Both of you.”

Edelgard nodded and lead Byleth upstairs to the spacious bathroom lined with sandy tile, gilded moldings, and antique brass fixtures. She took her in and turned on the shower.

“Get undressed and clean yourself up, okay?”

Byleth nodded and started to lift her shirt.

“A-a-after I leave!” Edelgard blushed. “I-I-I’ll get you a ch-change of clothes, okay?”

She nodded and watched the young woman exit. Once Edelgard left and shut the door behind her, she let out a heavy sigh and walked to her room where she shucked of the bloody clothes and threw them in the trash can by her desk. She’d have to remember to burn them later in the fireplace. She looked herself over and noticed a small, light stain of blood across her pale stomach where it bled through the fibers of the sweater. She ran her finger over it, lightly.

In her mind, she could still see every moment of that man’s death. She could smell the coppery blood as it burst forth. She could perfectly envision his cold, glassy stare as he bled out on the floor. She shivered.

This was always going to happen. She knew that when she asked Marchosias for a demon who could fight. A demon who could wage war. She knew she had to be ready for combat, for bloodshed and violence, but this…it was a lot, and very quickly. She took a deep breath and steeled herself.

She had made a promise, not just to herself, but to the ashes of the life that was taken from her, and the family she had lost. She would not blink in the face of this violence. She would not turn from this path. She would achieve her vengeance, and bring the reign of terror to an end, even if it required she begin her own.

Edelgard pulled on a crimson, long-sleeved blouse, a black knee skirt, and black tights, then went to Byleth’s room where she dug through the new clothes until she assembled a decent outfit. When she made it back to the bathroom door, she could still hear the shower running. Surely it had been long enough, right? What was taking her?

She knocked twice. “Byleth, are you finished?” There was no answer. She gulped and turned the handle. She shouldn’t have been so sheepish, decorum aside had seen the demon naked literally a dozen times in the past day, and it wasn’t as though Byleth minded. She just needed to steel her resolve and deal with it.

Byleth had declined to shut the shower curtain as stood, reverently, beneath the stream of hot water. There, face turned into the stream, eyes closed and her soft curves glistening in the light while the last rivulets of red trickled down her pale skin, she was the most gorgeous thing Edelgard had ever seen. She had no mind to even be bashful as the awe of the demon’s beauty froze her in place.

After a few seconds, Byleth opened her eyes and turned toward the door. “You’re back.”

At once Edelgard remembered herself and flushed a deep pink. She held the clothes out. “I-I-I-I-I brought you these. You can, uh, turn the, uh, shower off, if you, uh, like?”

Byleth cocked her head and looked at the dial. She touched it hesitantly and slowly turned it as she’d seen Edelgard do before. The water shutoff and she stepped out, dripping.

“There’s an, uh…towel on the rack, there, to dry yourself.”

She nodded and took it, running the terry cloth over her body. Edelgard felt like she should leave if act a part of her brain was screaming at her to run and hide under her bed, but she couldn’t shift her feet from where they were planted. She just stood and watched the demon dry herself for what might have been an eternity.

“P-p-put these on.”

“Okay.” She pulled on a grey shirt and black shorts that came to the knee and clung tight to her legs. She looked at Edelgard. “Is this good?”

“It is. You…you’re talking more, aren’t you?”

Byleth nodded. “I remembered my…my voice. I think I…for…forgot it.”

“Oh, that’s…that’s good, isn’t it?”

She nodded.

“But what made you remember?”

She shrugged. “Dunno.”

“Hmm…well, we’ll figure it out. Maybe we can learn how to trigger more of your memories? Let’s head downstairs, Hubert’s waiting for us.”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

She found Hubert, a visible shade of green, scrubbing the blood of the couch with a thick brush and yellow rubber gloves. He sighed and looked up as they entered. “It…it won’t come all the way out.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Edelgard assured him, “We can get rid of it if need be. Just turn the cushion over in the meantime.”

He nodded and flipped it, making it at least appear clean and new. He sighed and sat down. “We should discuss what you found.”

“Agreed. Byleth, take a seat.”

She did, on the other side of the couch. Hubert’s whole body seemed to seize as her weight impacted the couch. His breath grew shallow.

“Does it need to be in here?” He asked.

“What do you mean?”

“The demon. It’s not like it can plan with us.”

Edelgard sighed. “She may have more to contribute than you think, Hubert. And her name is Byleth, don’t treat her like an animal.”

“You saw what it did, didn’t you? What else would call something like that? A person? An ally? Or a monster?” He looked over to Byleth who simply stared at him with wide, placid eyes. “I…I’m sorry. It’s been…trying, tonight, with everything that’s happened. I don’t mean to offend. Having her near just brings on…uncomfortable thoughts.”

Edelgard shook her head. “It’s fine. Byleth, you can wait upstairs while we talk.”

The demon nodded and quietly retreated out of the room. The second she was gone Hubert seemed to relax all through his body. “Thank you. Now, you said you didn’t find evidence of the Church’s complicity in your family’s death?”

“No. The file on them seemed to specifically omit that time. Their surveillance started well before, but that’s not proof.”

“So what did you find?”

She retrieved the folder from where she placed in on the table when the returned and handed it to Hubert. He opened it and looked through. “This is…Seteth had this in his office? Just lying in a drawer?”

“It was practically inaccessible to normal people. I don’t think he expected anyone to be able to look there.”

“These…these are all the secret cardinals for the Church of Seiros. The most closely guarded secret in Fodlan’s history. The entire leadership of the Church.”

She nodded. “We’ve spent years trying to suss even one out, to no avail. They cloud their movements in an enormous fog of secrecy. The last time this happened was-”

“The 1100s,” he finished, “Just one Cardinal was discovered and assassinated, and it threw the whole Church hierarchy into disarray. They called it the Dark Night of the Goddess.”

“That’s right. This is better than shaming them, Hubert, better than showing off their crimes to a world that would only forgive them. With this list, we can cut the head off of the entire Church of Seiros!”

He shook his head. “How? What do you plan to do with this?”

She furrowed her brow and set her jaw. “Assassinate them. Every single one on that list.”

“What?” He gasped. “L-lady Edelgard, this isn’t what we discussed! Even discounting the moral aspect, how could we even pull it off? These are likely the best-defended people in the world.”

“Byleth. There’s no way they could account for her, and we now know what she can do.”

“This isn’t what we talked about, Edelgard. Is this the justice you wanted? Killing a dozen to punish the actions of one?”

She leaped to her feet. “And why not? They slaughtered my family, killed my brothers and sisters in their beds, Hubert! Why shouldn’t we take their family, Rhea’s precious children, and do to them exactly what they did to me?! How is that _not_ justice?”

“This…this bloodshed…I fear you will lose yourself in this, my Lady. That your pure soul will be corrupted and burned by this.”

“My soul,” she growled, “Hasn’t been pure for three years since they stained it with the ashes of my home and salted the ground where it stood. I don’t care what happens to me, or what I become, I promised that I would see this through and I will, Hubert Vestra, or die trying. Now, are you with me or not?” Her hands were balled into fists and shaking, and there were tears in her eyes.

Hubert sighed. “I…I do not agree that this is the best the course of action, but I made my own promise to see you through this terrible ordeal. If only to counsel you and keep you from losing who you are…yes, Edelgard, I am with you. Wherever this road goes, I will follow you to its end.”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The adrenaline of the night had waned and left in its place incredible fatigue and after Hubert left, Edelgard trudged upstairs, intent to do nothing but achieve a long, solid night’s sleep. A plan that was interrupted by the presence of a beautiful but intrusive demon curled on her comforter. She sat up and looked to Edelgard as she entered the bedroom.

Edelgard sighed. “You have your own room, why do you keep coming in here?”

“In here it’s…better. Warm.”

“You could sleep under the blankets?”

She shook her head. “Wrong warm. I remember…we slept together.”

Edelgard blushed. “W-w-what? Who?”

“It was…I don’t know. Someone I…someone close. We shared. We were safe, together. Warm. Then I slept alone for a…a long time. I don’t want to anymore.”

“I…I see,” her cheeks were on fire, “W-w-well, I suppose it’s…okay if you stay. If that’s what you, uh, need.”

She sighed and walked over to the bed and flopped down onto it. “After tonight…will you be ready to fight again?”

Byleth nodded. “I can always fight.”

“What if they don’t fight back? If they're just…people, who need to die?”

She shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. Edelgard is…bound. I protect Edelgard. You enemies…my enemies.”

“I see. That’s…good. So you don’t mind doing what you did tonight?”

“No. To fight is…to live. The strongest are…the survivors. I survive. Edelgard survives.”

“I survive. That’s what I do, I suppose. That’s what I have to keep doing, no matter what it takes, until the end.”

She jumped as something stroked her leg through her tights. “Wahh!”

Byleth, undeterred by her yelp, ran her fingers along her calf. “Soft.”

“P-p-p-please, d-don’t d-d-d-do that!”

She knelt down and started rubbing her cheek along the fabric. “Do what?”

“Aahh! Don’ j-j-just go and t-touch me like that! P-please ask, first!”

“Oh. Can I touch you, now?”

“N-n-no! Uh, er, n-n-n-not right now, okay?”

She nodded, yawned, and curled back on the mattress.

Edelgard bid her beating heart to calm and went to the closet where she changed into pajamas before returning to bed. Byleth looked so innocent and sweet, nestled as she was on the blankets. It was impossible to believe, as she was, what she was truly capable of. She got under the covers and curled up herself.

“Edelgard?”

“Y-yes?”

“Can I come closer?”

“I-I-I suppose, so. If you need to.”

Byleth shifted over, nuzzling her face against Edelgard’s shoulder and quickly falling asleep.

“Edelgard…” she muttered, “Warm.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! We got a little messy in this one! I don't think I mentioned before, but a big inspiration for this fic was Fate/Stay Night, specifically the Infinite Blade Works anime. I wanted to match the tone of incredible violence back-to-back with angsty romance stuff, so, hopefully, everyone's still on board!
> 
> Like I said in the end note my goal is to update this at least once a week, so I'll see you back here soon for the next chapter!


	4. Blood on Your Hands

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Edelgard finds her first target.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content Warning: Descriptions of violence and blood.

The days and weeks that followed blended together in a flurry of planning and preparation as the trio, though mostly Hubert and Edelgard, attempted to strategize their takedown of the secret Cardinals.

“Many are in the Empire,” Hubert noted, “Either for practical purposes in pacifying the populace, or, likely, for ease of living, as Church officials are the next best thing to an elite class in Adrestia now.”

Edelgard nodded. “Along with their nobility collaborators. The Aegirs, the Varleys, and…”

“The Vestra, I know. I’ll need to confer with my father’s documents. While I doubt he’s been made aware of their identities, it’s likely he’ll be able to provide some insight into the Church’s defenses.”

“Just make sure you aren’t caught. I can’t afford to lose you, Hubert.”

He chuckled, darkly, “No matter, there. My father won’t have me done away with. I’m his only heir, and he would never tolerate the humiliation of admitting I betrayed him. No, I’d likely be locked away for a time. Sent to some far corner of the Empire.”

“Leaving it to me to rescue you.”

“It would be my honor.”

She smirked. “See who among our allies are left, as well. There are still a few still loyal to House Hresvelg in the Empire.”

“I’ll do my best, Lady Edelgard, but I caution you against raising your hopes too high. Our allies are not what they were, not since loyalty to you became tantamount to treason.”

“All the more reason to rouse them. This vengeance is for the whole of the Empire, not me alone.”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

During this time, Edelgard also busied herself in helping Byleth adjust to living in the mortal world, assisting her in understanding the technology and cultural norms of which she had no knowledge or context. While progress on many fronts was slow and tedious, Edelgard was relieved to say that by the end of the second week she was getting dressed each morning by her own volition. Additionally, her language skills had advanced considerably, almost as though they were triggered upon the incident at the Basilica.

Thanks to this, Edelgard was getting to know the demon better and better, and understood more of who she was beyond her strength and origins. She discovered, in this, Byleth’s natural curiosity for the world around her that manifested in a desire to see and feel all she encountered and share it with others. She was also strangely perceptive in the oddest ways, something Edelgard had not yet been able to adjust to.

“Edelgard,” the demon had called out one morning, “Come see.”

Edelgard found her in the living room, reclined on the couch where she was watching the large television mounted on the far wall.

“What is it?”

“Edelgard,” she pointed.

It was a documentary about the Empire, and showed an image of the most recent Imperial family, including a much younger Edelgard being lead by her father.

“Yes,” she smiled, “I think I was…eight or nine years old. That was just after we’d taken a trip to Almyra for a summit or something like that. That’s why father is so tan.”

“Father? Where is your father now?”

“He…he’s no longer with us, I’m afraid. None of them are.”

“Them?”

“My…my family. I had ten siblings, at one time. Eight older, two younger.”

“You had sisters?”

“And brothers. They were a…strange family. But they were wonderful, too. I loved them very much. I…I still do.”

“What happened to them?”

She took a deep breath. “They’re all gone, now. They died, some years ago.” She turned and Byleth had gotten much closer, staring at her through wide, aware eyes with inhuman focus.

“Who?”

“Who what?”

“Who took them from you?”

“I…what makes you think they were killed?”

“You. When you talk about them you are…sad. The color of your soul is blue. But there is crimson within it, rage deep inside, much stronger than the blue. You feel anger in the loss.”

“You can see my soul?”

She nodded. “Yours is strong. Big. It’s easy to see. Others are harder. The black-haired one, his soul is much more…weak. It struggles to go beyond his body.”

“Hubert is a very strong person,” she corrected, “He’s done a great deal for me over the years, all at the risk of his own life and future.”

She shook her head. “He only pursues your brightness and warmth, like a flower that turns toward the sun. It’s all he knows how to do. Follow the strongest light.” She reached out a hand and gently ran her fingers down Edelgard’s cheek. “Your light is the brightest. The warmest he can find.”

Edelgard felt her face grow warm, but she did not recoil from the demon’s touch. “And what does that mean?” She whispered.

“You are on a path of flames that burn and grow with each step forward. Edelgard…you can withstand them. You will not turn back when they overtake you, they will join with your crimson. But when they get close to him he will flinch and retreat to a safer path.”

“You’re saying he’ll leave me?”

Byleth shrugged. “He’ll follow the light until it burns him. Then he will find a new light to follow.”

Edelgard’s jaw clenched. “You don’t know what you’re talking about. Hubert has always been with me. He would never betray me, no matter what happened. He’s sworn to see this through. You just don’t understand humans well enough to see it.”

She shrugged again and sat back on the couch. “I do not understand humans.”

“You can’t know his heart.”

She nodded.

“So how could you know mine?”

She turned to face her. “Humans are strange to me. Different. But you are not different. You are not strange to me. Flames do not burn you. They mix with your soul and become stronger. I know your soul because it is like mine.”

She returned her attention to the television while Edelgard was left to sort through new and complex thoughts.

Their souls were the same? Did that…did that mean that she was like a demon? A creature of malice and hellfire?

She grimaced. It was possible. She couldn’t deny what her oath of vengeance had done to her, how it had changed her and shaped who she was. She could never have imagined following this path when she was younger, not for any other reason. But did that make her a monster? Were demons monsters?

Or did she mean something else? Could it have meant…did Byleth somehow know how Edelgard felt right now? Had she, too, faced an injustice and betrayal of her family? Was Byleth on a path of crimson flame as well? Byleth’s history was slight, her memory even more so, but what if there was more to it? Something lost or hidden that she only knew in feelings and whispers? Who was she, really?

It didn’t matter, Edelgard supposed. At least not for now. What came next was the same, no matter what.

Maybe her soul did burn, but there was no turning from the path, now. She would continue, headlong, well into the flames until they consumed her.

If she didn’t consume them first.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The plans had been made, and a strategy formed around their first target. He was near, not far from Enbarr, having relocated to a vacated manor where a displaced noble house once stood. Night had already fallen as Edelgard, Hubert, and Byleth waited on a dark corner, dressed all in black.

“He’s late,” Hubert complained.

“It doesn’t matter. The window is large enough. We have until dawn. And you’re the one who didn’t want to fly.”

He paled even whiter than he already was. “Too many variables. It’s not reliable.”

At that moment, a light blue pick up truck rounded the corner and came to a stop right in front of them, it’s headlights shutting off. The window rolled down and they were greeted with a boyish face topped with short, teal hair.

“Sorry for the wait,” the young man grinned, “Car trouble.”

Hubert sighed. “I suppose I should be grateful you came at all, Caspar.”

“Hubert’s just being difficult,” Edelgard excused, “We’re grateful for your help.”

“Yeah, well, not much else to do, right? So is this the heavy hitter Hubert told me about?”

“Yes. Byleth, this is Caspar Bergliez.”

“Good to meet you,” he smiled.

Byleth nodded.

“Come on in,” he beckoned, “Just enough room for the three of you.”

They boarded the truck, Hubert and Byleth in the smaller backseat while Edelgard took the front next to Caspar. Once they were buckled in and secure he started the engine again and drove off.

“How long should it take?” Hubert asked.

“It’s outside the city, and no traffic this late. Should only be about twenty minutes, maybe thirty.” He turned onto a narrow side road.

“Caspar,” Edelgard piped in, “It’s been a little while. What have you been up to?”

“It’s, uh, you know, it’s fine. Working construction, now. Laying concrete and stuff like that. Lot of Church buildings going up, so there’s lots of work.”

“Do you like it?”

He laughed, an empty sound. “Does it matter? It’s fine, it’s work, and it pays. Not much else for me to do, right?”

“Have you seen your father?”

He scoffed. “I keep trying to visit, but they tell me he’s in solitary. Been like that for over a year.”

“He may be dead,” Hubert added, “And they’re covering it up.”

“Hubert!”

“No, no, it’s fine. I’ve thought about it, too, honestly. I guess they could have, but I just don’t know why they’d bother when he’s already locked up. I mean, everything’s gone, right? Our house, our titles, our allies. They took it all. I guess you know what I mean, though, huh, Edelgard?”

She nodded. “Everything but the winter estate.”

“That’s something, at least. It’d been nice if I could have kept one of our homes.”

“You’re welcome to stay if you ever need to, you know.”

He shook his head. “Nah. They may have taken it all down, but at least I can keep going on my own two feet right? Besides, it’s not like any of that stuff was ever really mine. It would’ve all gone to Mel. You know, if he…”

“Your brother was a good man, Caspar. Melchior was always kind to everyone he met, no matter where they came from.”

“Yeah…yeah. Anyway, what’s the big plan? I know I’m taking you to this Church guy’s house, but what are you gonna do?”

“The plan,” Hubert said, “Is on a need to know basis. Telling you would put all of us at risk.”

“Jeez, you never lightened up, did ya, Hubert? Fine, whatever.”

“We can tell you,” Edelgard relented, “That we’re working to right the wrongs done to us, to Adrestia, by the Church of Seiros. To make them pay for everything that we’ve endured and lost.”

“We’ll never get it back, Edelgard.”

“Maybe not. But we can’t let ourselves fade from this world without making them understand what they’ve done, and perhaps even stop them from doing it to anyone else.”

“Hmm. Yeah, I guess that’s pretty good, too.”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Caspar dropped them off a few blocks from their destination, on a dark sidewalk in a rural neighborhood far from the city lights.

“Stay near,” Edelgard instructed him, “Depending on how this goes, we may need you to drive us out.”

“Well, sure, how else would you get home?”

They had no good answer for him as he drove partway down the street and stowed away along a dirt turn-off. Even from here, they could see the shape of the grand manor against the starry sky, a square, brutal shape encircled by a high wall lit with the occasional, warm bulb. The snuck near, sticking along low fences as quietly as they could manage until they saw the front gate where a single Church guard stood with an automatic rifle slung on his back.

“We’ll need to avoid the guards until we disable the security system,” Hubert whispered.

Byleth unsheathed her claw and muttered, “Cameras?”

“No,” Edelgard warned her, “We can’t do it the same way or they’ll be sure it was the same people who robbed the cathedral.”

“I have this,” Hubert smirked, “We just need to get over the wall.” Silent as the night Hubert lead them to a spot against the wall near the back of the east side of the estate. “Here. We can make a straight shot to the basement without being seen by any cameras.”

Byleth nodded and, without warning, grabbed both of the nobles by the scruff of their necks and leaped over the ten-foot barrier, landing with a soft thump on the grass on the other side. Edelgard smiled at the demon while Hubert shakily lifted himself off the ground and brushed loose grass off his pants. He motioned for them to follow and they crawled in a low crouch across the wide yard, past square hedges, and through patches of violet flowers until they reached a thing, rectangular window against the bottom of a smooth wall.

Hubert extracted a leather valise with an array of fine, metal tools, and set to unlocking the latch.

“Should only take a moment.”

Several moments passed without success.

“What’s taking so long?” Edelgard hissed.

“It’s more…complicated than I thought.”

Her retort died in her throat as the sound of boot falls and the distant waving of flashlights caught her attention.

“Eastside pressure sensor?” A voice asked.

“Yeah,” another responded, “Probably just another damn raccoon, but his nibs will be off his rocker if we don’t check it out.”

“Gods, this place is like a frigging prison, you think he’d be less paranoid.”

“Hubert!” Edelgard whispered. “Hurry!”

“I’m trying!”

“Byleth,” she ordered, “Get ready.”

“No,” Hubert paled, “She c-can’t kill them! T-t-the cameras will see her! We’ll be caught!”

“Not that. Byleth, the lock!”

Byleth nodded. She shoved Hubert aside and gripped the lock between her forefinger and thumb. With a simple twist, she rent it from the sill and the window popped open.

“Inside!”

The three scrambled through, Hubert shutting the window immediately after he fell in, and they waited, breathless, as the sounds of guards neared.

“You see anything?”

“Nah. Wait.” They all held their breath. “Shit, something trampled on the violets. Ugh, the boss’ll be pissed.”

“Stupid vermin, I swear, we should just be taking potshots at any beady eyes we see.”

The other laughed. “Then we’d be shooting these stupid Imperials all over the place.”

“Eh, what’s the problem?”

The laughed and headed back to their posts. The trespassers waited until all noise of the guards was gone until they finally let themselves breathe. There was a strange smell in the air down here, something pungent and unpleasant.

“That was…” Hubert’s voice shook, “Close…”

“Quick, the security system.”

“Right. It should be just over here.” He felt his way through the pitch-black basement until his hands touched a metal box attached to the wall. A tiny flashlight sprung to life in his hands to illuminate the fusebox, and he opened it and started fussing with the wires. “I should be able to take down the cameras and sensors, just give me a moment. They’ll know once we do, so we’ll have to move quickly.”

Edelgard rolled her eyes but set to waiting. After a moment, she felt a tap on her shoulder. “What is it?”

“Edelgard,” Byleth’s voice was soft and quiet, “Look.”

Her eyes had started to adjust to the darkness, but whatever occupied the basement was just a series of dark shapes arranged through the room.

“What is it?”

The demon just tugged at her sleeve more insistently. Edelgard sighed and extracted her own pocket flashlight, clicking it on and looking around.

“Gods,” she breathed. She knew exactly what Byleth was talking about.

The room was spacious and made entirely of smooth, grey concrete. There were a handful of long tables and cabinets, all stocked with a variety of what looked like medical equipment, some state of the art, some seemingly antique. But this wasn’t what stopped Edelgard’s heart, that was the two dozen large, steel cages that lined the walls.

Some were empty, but most had an occupant, more than a dozen small, emaciated figures lain at the base of their prisons. Children. The oldest couldn’t have been twelve years old, the youngest barely looked five.

And they were all dead.

Every one had their face locked in an image of pain or terror. Most had streams of dried blood running from their ears and eyes, while a few had clumsy stitches all along their exposed chests.

“Hubert…”

“I’ve got it, just one more-”

“Hubert!”

He disconnected one last wire and turned with a sigh. “Please have a little more faith in-” His jaw dropped and his words turned to ash. “H…how…what is this?”

“This?” Edelgard whispered. “This is the Church of Seiros. This is what they’re willing to do to further their own ends.”

“I-”

The door at the top of the stairs opened and heavy boots began to descend.

“I swear I heard something down here.”

“Heard what? You heard Aelfric, the whole stock was lost in today’s rounds.”

“Well I’m gonna check anyway, maybe one survived? That’d cheer him up, right?”

Hubert immediately shut off his light and hit behind a cabinet, but Edelgard didn’t move enough to press the button on her torch.

“Lady Edelgard!” He hissed. “Hide!”

Edelgard ignored him and looked to her right, where Byleth was watching her with huge, expectant eyes. They shone like burning sapphires in the dim light.

“What do you command?”

“Kill them,” she muttered, “Kill everyone you see. Drown this place in their blood.”

The guard hit the last stair and flicked a switch, filling the room with pale, fluorescent light.

“What the fuck?!” He reached for his sidearm, but before he could even draw it a blur of black and blue rushed past him and his head flew off his shoulders in a fountain of red.

“Holy shit!” A voice screeched from the top of the stairs. “Tobias! Shit, we have to-”

Byleth took off up the stairs in a blur of motion that defied all reason. Hubert and Edelgard only heard a brief scream punctuated by a wet, ripping sound, and then a dull thud.

Hubert looked like he was going to vomit. He backed up to the wall and muttered, “No…no, no, no. Gods, no…”

Edelgard paid him no mind. She followed up the stair, stepping through deep streams of pooling blood. At the top of the stairs, she found the other guard, a gaping hole in his chest. From there, she followed the blood. More corpses, ripped, rent, and torn, littered the halls of the house. A ways ahead, there were more sounds of combat: hits, shouts, and gunshots all punctuated with the sound of flesh shredding and bodies falling.

She followed up first floor stairs to the second, past severed arms and legs and piles of viscera, until she found Byleth, drenched in blood, and stood before a set of wooden, double doors. An hour ago, such a sight may have sickened the noblewoman, but now, as she was, Byleth looked radiant coated in crimson. Her claws unsheathed, her eyes bright and vibrant, she seemed more like an angel of vengeance, a vision of terrifying beauty in a sick and twisted world.

“The last one is in here,” she said.

“Do it.”

With a heavy strike, she turned the doors to splinters. Within was a large office lined in wood bookshelves and cabinets of curios, while at the center, under a large portrait of Archbishop Rhea, was a sallow-faced man with deep worry lines and dark, greenish-brown hair worn long in the back with choppy bangs. His face was damp and panic-stricken as he attempted to hammer numbers into his desk phone.

“Wha-no, no, no!”

Byleth rushed him, grabbing him by the neck and slamming him against the far wall so hard the frame of the portrait shattered. He gasped and clawed for air, but Byleth paid no attention to his desperation.

“Aelfric Dahlman,” Edelgard spat, “Cardinal of Science for the Church of Seiros.”

“I…I’m not-” he gasped.

“Save it, we already know what you are. What you’re complicit in. But I had no idea…what did you do to those children?”

“I…I…”

“Let him speak, Byleth. I want to hear his answer.”

She pulled her arm away and he collapsed to the ground, coughing and sputtering.

“Answer me,” she barked, “What possessed you to murder those children?! What possible reason could there be?”

“M-murder? It…it’s not murder, it’s progress! Each one of those subjects died in pursuit of research that would bring humanity upon a new age!”

“A new age?”

“Closer to the goddess! Gods ourselves on earth! I’m so close, the stone nearly bonded until…you must let me…I know you. You’re the Hresvelg survivor.”

She stomped forward and stared down at him along the line of her nose. “I am Edelgard von Hresvelg, the rightful Emperor of Adrestia!”

“Emperor?” He choked a laugh. “Not anymore, are you?”

“Because you took it.”

“Took? No, the people gave us power. They practically begged us to take this pathetic nation from your family’s filthy hands. This is what humanity wants! For the Church to forward them to a new age!”

“Enough,” she growled, “Finish him.”

“No!”

Byleth grabbed him by the shoulders and slammed him onto the desk. He struggled, but her claws were like iron bands around his arms.

“Now, Byleth: kill him.”

“No.”

“What?!”

“I won’t.”

“Why not?!”

“You should do it.”

“I…what do you mean?”

“You should be the one to end it. To finish him.”

“I-I don’t know if I can do that, Byleth. I don’t think I’m…capable of it.”

“This man…what has he done to deserve death?”

“He…he was part of the plan that lead to the death of my family. He’s a part of the cycle of violence and oppression that consumes my nation and people. And on top of that, he’s twists and tortures the bodies of children for his own sick ambitions.”

“If you let him live, will he stop?”

“No. No, he’ll continue doing all of that and worse. And he’ll come after me, try to kill me, too.”

“You’re damn right I will you-”

Byleth wrenched his shoulder right out of its socket. He yowled in pain, but then fell silent. “Then it is not a question of whether he deserves it. Killing, fighting, it is not about hate or violence. It’s not about love for blood. It’s about survival. The one who fights the hardest, the most, was the one who deserved to live. The one who survives is the strongest.”

“I’m…I’m not strong. If I was strong I could’ve saved my family. If I was strong, my home wouldn’t have been destroyed. If I was strong I wouldn’t be hesitating to end the life of this twisted, evil little man!”

“You are strong. You survived. You are alive now because you are strong. But you will need more than that to walk the rest of the way down this path of fire. You will need to become one with the flame.”

“I…how?” Byleth nodded to her right hand, and Edelgard was shocked to find a long, surgical scalpel clutched in it. “I…I must have grabbed it when…did I want to do this? Do I…”

Byleth nodded and held the man still. Edelgard took one slow step forward, then another. She stood over him. The scalpel felt so heavy in her hand, but something about that felt right. The weight was satisfying and comfortable.

She lifted the scalpel high and it gleamed in the light.

Aelfric’s eyes widened in fear.

She took a breath in, then out.

She set her jaw.

She plunged the blade downward.

She became one with the flame.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! It's getting more intense, and I'll do my best to update the warnings just in case.
> 
> I had really interesting comments about the relationship between Edelgard, Hubert, and Byleth, and how this sort of reverses their dynamic, and I think that's definitely true, especially in terms of how they approach violence. I think in this fic, I'm looking at Hubert as more of a correcting force to tradition, where his goal is to keep Edelgard on track, whereas Byleth is more of a chaotic element separate from the system Hubert venerates. Plus I like the idea of Hubert being more interested in violence in the abstract since that's how he always felt to me in the games.
> 
> Just a weird thing I've been thinking about. I love people's reads on what's going on, and I've seen some cool theories, some that are pretty dang close!
> 
> Anywho, see you next time when some consequences come for Edelgard!


	5. Upon My Skin the Flames Will Not Burn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the wake of Edelgard's choice, she finds something special along the path she treads.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW: Descriptions of blood and violence.

The blade of the scalpel dropped through Aelfric’s chest with a nearly imperceptible pop as it split the skin and plunged between his ribs. Edelgard felt it breach the wall of his heart, which beat hard against the steel, shredding itself to pieces. Bursts of warm crimson shot from the edges of the wound, drenching her hands and splattering over her porcelain face and snow-white hair.

He gasped once, a strangled, screechy sound punctuated by a spurt of dark blood as his lungs shuddered as they were filled and crushed by the bleeding and he collapsed back onto the desk and fell still.

Edelgard’s breath came in heavy, ragged heaves. She could feel the body cooling under her hands, while the blood on her hands felt hotter than coals. She looked up at the demon, still radiant in black and crimson, who smiled at her, almost sweetly, and stroked her cheek with the back of her clawed hand.

“You did well,” she nodded, “You survived.”

“I…I did. He…I was stronger than him?”

She nodded.

“I…was this wrong? S-should I-I have done this? Oh, gods, I-”

“You cannot start a war if you are not willing to take a life with your own hands. My mother told me that.”

“Y-your mother? Do…do you remember her?”

“I,” her eyes twitched and a look of confusion spread over her face, “No. I…just those words…who was…”

Edelgard put a hand on Byleth’s shoulder. “It’ll be alright, we’ll figure out what-”

“Edelgard!” Hubert had staggered into the shattered doorway. He had a handkerchief clutched over his mouth, and his pale face was slick with sweat. His eyes were locked on her bloody hands. “You…what did you do, Edelgard?”

“What we came here to do. We need to leave. Come on, Byleth will-”

“No!” He barked. “I mean…we should split up, for safety. Byleth can take you home, I’ll return in the truck.”

She nodded. “Okay. We’ll touch base tomorrow, okay?”

He nodded and hurried away, his footsteps making slick slaps on the soaked carpet.

“He’s an obsidian blade,” Byleth said, quietly, “His edge is sharp, but he is fragile. He’s starting to crack.”

“He’ll be fine, Hubert’s dealt with worse than this. We need to go, are you ready?”

She nodded, wide wings unfurling from her back. “As you command, Edelgard.”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Time seemed to slow as Byleth rushed through the night sky, Edelgard held tightly in her arms. She moved so fast the ground beneath turned into a blur of light and shadow, and the cold wind quickly dried the blood that covered them both. Still, Edelgard thought it was a beautiful night, and she felt safe and warm in the demon’s strong grip.

They landed silently in the backyard among still hedges and closed tulips, before hurrying inside so no nosy onlookers could see the state of them.

Edelgard retreated upstairs quickly to wash off, requesting Byleth to remain downstairs and out of sight until she could do the same.

Byleth was happy to wait. She never seemed to grow bored when left to idle. It must have been because she had slept for so long, she seemed to require very little in the way of diversion, and new thoughts came slowly to her.

Had she been like that before? She had no idea. She knew so little of herself before she fell asleep, save her affinity for battle, and the reasoning that drove her through it. She must be the same, right? If that had persevered, surely other parts of herself did as well?

Those words, her mother’s words, she knew them in her heart. She knew her mother, whoever that was, spoke them to her often. But she could not assign a face or a voice to that title. Where was her mother now? Was she alive? Had Byleth lost her along with her memory? Did she have more family besides that? Where were they? Asleep, like she was, in some forgotten corner of hell?

The memories returned in fragments, and only when they saw fit to do so. She could only hope they continued to return to her over time.

She suddenly began to feel as though much time had passed since Edelgard had left her, though she had no concept of how long, and decided it would be best to check on her. The longer Edelgard was out of her sight, the less chance she had to protect her.

She ascended the stairs, flakes of dry blood coming off the bottoms of her bare feet with each step. She heard the rush of the shower and found the door unlocked. The curtain was open and Edelgard, undressed with her long white hair stuck close to her scalp, was curled on the tiles as water rushed over her, mixing with tears that fell in racking sobs. She was still pink in places where the blood stained her skin as it slowly ran off of her down the drain.

Byleth approached and crouched down at the edge of the shower. She extended a pale hand and stroked the young woman’s cheek. Edelgard’s eyes shot open, but she did not move or speak.

“Why?” Byleth asked.

“I…it won’t come off. No matter how…how much I clean them, the blood…it’s still on my hands.” She held them up. They were pink all over, though it couldn’t be said if they were still bloodstained or just raw from scrubbing. “It won’t come off.”

“Then it won’t come off. You will be stained in the blood of an evil coward who you struck from this world. What is there to be afraid of in that?”

“I…it’s not because of him…I’m scared of what I am. Of what I’m becoming, and what I might do to the people I love. Hubert’s face…what else will I put him through? And you, what will I inflict on you down this path?”

“I am a…a person you love?”

Edelgard reddened and looked away. “I…I’ve come to care for you, too, Byleth. I’m afraid you will come to harm at my hands, too.”

Byleth still fully clothed, pulled herself into the shower and took Edelgard into her arms. Dry, caked blood turned from brown to red and fell from her like crimson rain as she held the young woman to her chest.

“I feel the…same way. You have been kind to me, though you did not have to. You’ve helped me when you only needed me to fight. You have welcomed me when others would be right to call me a monster and cast me out.”

“Byleth…”

“I am not afraid, Edelgard. I see you burning, but your skin does not char. I have seen you bloody, but it does not seep into your soul. Your vengeance has made you strong, and your strength makes you amazing.”

Edelgard reached up to touch Byleth’s face and the demon saw, for the first time, the inside of the woman’s wrists that always covered by sleeves. Along them were deep, jagged scars, old enough to have healed but not enough to have faded from sight. She ran her finger along them.

“No,” Edelgard recoiled, “Those are-”

“Scars. They show you suffered. You were hurt. But you survived. You found the strength to fight on. They do not make you ugly, and every day they are left to fade is a testament to your power. To your beauty. You are beautiful, Edelgard.”

“Byleth…” She took Byleth’s hand and clutched it in her own. It felt warm and strong. She leaned up into the demon woman and met her lips with force and passion. Her body felt so warm as they entwined, as Byleth ripped away her soiled clothes and she felt the touch of her soft skin that bulged and flexed with powerful muscle. As their hands roamed, searching for something, anything to release the fire that grew within them, the twin flames that roared from the bottom of their souls grew ten times when they touched.

Byleth’s hand found purchase and Edelgard felt electricity excite her every nerve as her body seized with pleasure.

She followed the light of the flame. She would not retreat from where this path had taken her. Her hands found purchase of their own. Byleth tensed under her touch and gasped through clenched teeth.

This was where she wanted to be.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When the pale, autumn light of morning came through the window, it shone upon Byleth and Edelgard, entwined beneath silk covers in the young woman’s bed. This time, they were both in a state of undress, and while Edelgard’s face reddened deeply as she awoke and took in her situation, she did no recoil from her place in the demon woman’s arm, and instead nuzzled closer, content in her embrace.

After a comfortable time of this, Byleth roused as well. She looked down at the noblewoman’s face and smiled.

“Good morning,” Edelgard grinned.

Byleth nodded.

“Thank you for, uh…for last night. I’ve never done…with, um, with anyone before.”

Byleth looked thoughtful. “I don’t know if I have.”

“You certainly seemed like you knew what you were doing,” she chuckled.

“If I had, I think it was…different.”

“Different as in…better?”

She shook her head. “Different…physical. It wasn’t because I…cared about them. I didn’t feel like I do about you.”

Edelgard flushed and buried her face in the crook of Byleth’s neck. “I didn’t expect you to be so sweet.”

“I don’t think I did either.”

“You’re not a monster, you know.”

“What?”

“Last night, before we…well, you said you were a monster. That people would be right to cast you out. But you aren’t. A monster couldn’t feel like you do. Sadness. Pity. Sympathy. Love. You have more to you than your strength and power. A beautiful soul.”

Byleth smiled. “I did not expect you to be so kind to me. Thank you, Edelgard.” She leaned down and kissed the white-haired girl, deep and slow, feeling the warmth that radiated off her.

Their tender moment hung there, for just a few seconds, before it was interrupted by a loud banging on the front door, and a shout in an unwelcome voice: “Edelgard von Hresvelg! By order of the Church of Seiros, open up immediately!”

Edelgard shot up. “They’re going to search the house. Byleth: I need you, as fast as you can, to destroy all evidence of what happened last night. Bloody clothes, footprints, anything you can find.”

Byleth nodded and the sheets flew up in a sudden gust of wind and, when they settled, she was gone.

Edelgard rushed to pull on her pajamas and a house coat while she ran through everything in her mind. The circle was cleaned, she’d taken care of that a week ago, and she’d dispersed the ingredients so they should just seem like decorative curios around the house. Hubert had kept all the plans at his house, since he was less likely to be searched.

Everything else was up to Byleth.

Edelgard didn’t see her as she headed down to the foyer, but held as much faith as she could before opening the door to a perturbed Seteth and half-a-dozen church guards.

“Edelgard von Hresvelg, we are searching your home under the authority of the Church, so granted by the Adrestian Government.”

She set her jaw and opened the door wide. “Come in, then. I have nothing to hide.”

He gestured and the guards rushed past her into the house. “We shall see.”

“What is this about, Seteth?”

“Feigning ignorance? Fine, I imagined you would do as much. We are investigating this,” he pulled a newspaper from behind his back, the front page bore an image of the great, square mansion under the headline ‘Twenty Dead in Massacre at Church Official’s Home.’

“And you think I’m responsible? This says twenty people were killed. How am I to have done this?”

“The security system was disabled, and the cameras shut off before the incident, but that’s no matter for now. The means are secondary to the intent, Lady Edelgard. If you were responsible, such things will work themselves into the open with time. And pressure, well applied.”

“Father Seteth!” One of the guards shouted from the living room. “In here!”

He shouldered past her and into the house. Edelgard slammed the door and followed him in the living room where two of the guards, their hands at their hips, stood on either side of Byleth, who lounged on the couch in silk pajamas while a fire crackled in the hearth.

“And who are you?” The Cardinal demanded.

Byleth’s face was steady and still. “Bella,” she said. “Edelgard’s friend.”

“Bella?”

“We met as children,” Edelgard explained, “And she’s staying with me for a while.”

“Yes…Flayn mentioned something to that effect. Tell me Bella, where did you two meet?”

“In the country. On a…trip.”

“And what family do you belong to that gave you access to an Imperial Princess?”

“Enough,” Edelgard demanded, “She was a child in the village near where we holidayed in the Kingdom. We played together, and reconnected recently over the internet.”

“Interesting. You must get quite lonely without your family, Lady Edelgard? All alone in this house?”

She tensed. He was prodding her. Tricking her into reacting.

She could have.

One word and Byleth would turn these men to ribbons. One word and Seteth Cichol would be writhing under the edge of a blade.

And that would be the end of it. No hiding who they were, after that. It would be an all-out war.

She sighed. She needed to be calm. She needed to follow the plan.

“It does, Father. I’m grateful to Bella for keeping me company.”

“I suppose so,” he smirked, “Better than just that dour Vestra boy, I suppose. At least her presence tells me nothing untoward is happening between the two of you. For the sake of your soul, I am grateful.”

It was hard for her not to smirk at that. Nothing untoward, indeed.

“Yes, as always I’m grateful for your attention.”

Another guard appeared from the direction of the kitchen.

“Sir, we’ve searched the house, but we haven’t found anything.”

“Oh? But what about this?” He strode toward the bookshelf and drew, with precision, the thick, black book. “Demonology? Possession of such materials can be called heresy, Lady Edelgard.”

“I-it’s always been here. It’s centuries old, nearly all these books are. I didn’t choose them.”

“Oh? Well, then let us do you a service.” He turned to the guards. “Take every tome and volume in the house. We shall ensure that nothing is left to corrupt the lady’s delicate soul.”

They nodded and began to grab and haul stacks of books from the shelves, as others found more through the house. Within minutes, every bookshelf had been picked clean. The guards loaded them into their cars, while Seteth made his way, slowly, to the door.

“I believe that’s everything,” he smirked, “Happy to be of service, my Lady.”

“Why do all this? What do you have against me, Seteth?”

“Against you? Nothing, my dear. As I’ve always said, my only concern is for your immortal soul. And it’s safe deliverance to the Goddess. Take care. I’ll be seeing you soon.” He stepped out and Edelgard shut the door behind him, at last releasing a long, deep breath she may have been holding since they arrived. She found Byleth in the same place on the couch.

“Thank you,” she sighed, “What did you do with everything?”

Byleth pointed to the flames that crackled in the fireplace.

“I suppose that’s for the best. What about that stained cushion?”

She pointed under her, to the part of the couch she was sat on. Edelgard laughed.

“Impressive! I honestly wasn’t sure how you’d handle such a…well, a complex task.”

Byleth shrugged. “Strategy and diversion. Easy.”

Edelgard moseyed to the couch and sat next to her demon, cuddling tightly to her side. “I’m grateful. Perhaps I should…demonstrate my gratitude?”

Byleth smiled, revealing the points of sharp canines. “If that is what you wish, Edelgard.”

She leaned in and kissed her, her hands already roaming for new territory to claim. Edelgard sighed and smiled. Perhaps the road to hell was paved with good intentions, but this was an unexpected and welcome surprise.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As Seteth and his guards rode away in the large, unmarked, transit van, he silently fumed over their failure.

His every instinct told him Edelgard von Hresvelg was behind this. He’d felt these events coming since the moment he discovered she’d survived the destruction of her house and the death of her family, the result of a miscalculation on his own part. He’d regretted it since, but every petition he lobbied to repair that mistake was shot down.

It was simply too big a risk and would reveal their hand too plainly, even to the brainwashed populace of Fodlan.

His only chance was to catch her in the act, find something to pin on her so he could label the last Hresvelg as an enemy of the Church and be done with her once and for all.

But there was nothing.

“You checked all the rooms?” He reiterated. “Every bedroom? The bathrooms? The basement.”

The guard driving sighed. “Yes, sir. There was nothing out of sorts. We could always return, sir? Say we missed something?”

“No, if it wasn’t there then any evidence would have likely been destroyed.”

“Sir, if you’ll excuse me asking, are you sure she’s involved? We saw the bloodbath at Aelfric’s manor, sir. It’s hard to believe a human being could do that, let alone a young woman like her. It just doesn’t add up.”

“The Goddess has guided me to this path. She tells me that Edelgard von Hresvelg is behind these atrocities. Do you question the will of the Goddess? The authority of the Church?”

“N-n-no, sir! J-just…being diligent. Say, uh, Heinkel, get your feet off the seat, huh? We just had the van cleaned!”

Seteth glanced back at the lower-ranked guard who sighed and uncrossed his legs. “Yes, Captain.”

“Wait!” Seteth ordered. “Put them back up!”

“Uh, sir?”

“Shut up and do it!”

He did, nervously pointing the bottom of his boot at the Cardinal who pulled a white handkerchief and swiped it over the treads of his shoe. He came away with a small area of reddish-brown flakes.

“What is it, sir?”

“Dried blood. Where did you search?”

“Upstairs, sir, in the bedrooms. But I didn’t see any blood, dry or otherwise. I could’ve picked it up at Aelfric’s manor, before. There was tons of blood, there.”

“Yes, perhaps you did. Or perhaps not. The cat. Did any of you see her cat? Carmen? Did you see a litterbox? Toys?”

The men in the back shook their heads. “What does that mean, sir?”

“I’m not sure yet, but we may yet be on the right track. Take us back to the Basilica, Captain, we have something to look into.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AAAHHH! Thanks for reading! Not gonna lie, it feels good to get right into it after the slow burn of my last fic! And sorry about the fade to black, I'm not super confident when it comes to more erotic writing, so I may or may not get into more later...
> 
> As always, thanks so much and see you next time for the next chapter (probably early next week)


	6. I Held You, Bloody, In My Arms

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hubert deals with the previous night's events.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content Warning: Blood; Discussion and Depiction of Suicide.

The memory was as vivid as the day it happened, always fresh in some dark corner of Hubert’s mind.

He could still feel his boots sink into the plush carpet under his weight as he walked down the hall. He heard the sound of water running from the showerhead. The door was open, so he heard it from the front door. He felt the steam on his face as he approached, and the glaring light of the fluorescents blinded him, ever so briefly, as he entered.

Then he saw her: pale skin and snow-white in a puddle of crimson that ran from her wrists like water down a brook. Her eyes were lidded and glassy, and until he noticed the gentle rise of her chest he was sure he was too late, that she was dead and he had failed her. He took her in his arms and rushed for help.

He could still feel the warm blood soaking into his shirt. It had been two years, and still, he could smell it.

Before then, it would have been fair to call Hubert a fairly ruthless person. It was the nature of his family to do anything to achieve their goals, and he had barely reached puberty the first time he’d seen his father have someone killed before him.

But that night was different. Edelgard bleeding out in his arms seeped into his soul and changed.

The sight of blood made him weak now, and the smell made him sick. He could no longer look passively at the dark deeds his father engaged in, and could no longer be a part of them himself.

He hadn’t said a word to Caspar when he drove him back to his family's estate, save to tell him to clean the car with bleach and lye as soon as he got home. He staggered inside, his stomach roiling, and vomited all over the foyer as soon as he crossed the threshold. There was no one to see: the servants had been dismissed from the dreary house, and his father was out of the country until next month. He could clean it later after he dealt with himself.

He undressed almost completely in the foyer to avoid tracking any blood through the house and plodded upstairs to the shower. He turned it as hot as he could handle and, for minutes or hours, just stood under the stream, begging the sense memory of that night, and all the nights like it to recede. His skin was raw and red when he was finally free from them. He dressed in black flannel pajamas and headed back down to clean his mess and dispose of the evidence.

Now the process was mechanical, a job that needed to be done where he could disassociate from the details.

Within an hour the tile floor was spotless, and Hubert was feeding the last of his stained clothes into a raging fire in the den.

He remembered the hospital. Edelgard had no visitors save for him and Seteth, who seemed more concerned with the possibility she wouldn’t make and left when he was informed she would recover.

He waited two days for her to awaken. She looked at him with those huge, lavender eyes and simply said: “You stopped me.”

He nodded and said nothing.

They sat in silence for a while before she began to weep.

“There’s nothing left for me, here,” she sobbed, “You should’ve let me go.”

He shook his head. “We still need you.”

“For what? My family is dead, Hubert. Our house destroyed and our power stripped and thrown to the wolves. What’s left?”

“Revenge.” He regretted it the instant he said it, but it was all he could think to say. “There are still the ones who took it all from you. They think they’ve won, Edelgard, and they’ll use that victory to fuel endless more atrocities.”

He didn’t want to send her to war. He didn’t want her to fight. He just didn’t want to lose her.

Now, as he stared into the flames and watched them eat away at the bloodstained clothes, he was afraid he would lose her anyway, as she marched down this path he did not know that he could follow.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hubert woke with a stinging headache and an empty bottle of wine clutched in his arms to the sound of knocking on his door.

“Master Hubert?” It was the housemaid, Lana. He must have overslept.

“I’m up, Lana. I’m up.”

“Sorry to be a bother, but you did want me to wake you before ten.”

“I said I’m up.”

He dragged himself to the en suite and turned on the shower. The second water hit the ground the memories of last rushed back, and it was all he could to not vomit right there. He shook them away. There was no time for that, not today. He had duties to see to.

He washed, dressed, and politely declined Lana’s breakfast before stepping out into the blinding light of late morning before setting off toward Edelgard’s.

Hubert’s family home was just outside the small burg the Hresvelg winter estate was, and it was a fairly reasonable walk from one to the other. He remembered, fondly, making it many times a day as a child when the family was there, ignoring the giggles of Edelgard’s sisters and the wary glare of her brothers. Few understood the bond they had and often mistook it for something cheap and tawdry, rather than the solemn duty that it was.

On the way he bought a paper at a newsstand to see how the media was reacting to the…business of the previous night. It was on the front page, which he might have expected, and true to form they were covering up the most damning parts. There was no direct mention of Aelfric Dahlman beyond the vague title of ‘Church Official,’ and no mention was made of his role as a Cardinal. There was also nothing regarding the horror show in his basement, which had almost certainly been purged before any media or law enforcement was allowed in.

Twenty more minutes of shielding his eyes from the light got him to the front door. Imagining she might have slept late as well (the demon could hardly be expected to wake her at a reasonable time) he used his key to quietly open the front door and slip inside. He considered heading to the kitchen and making something in case Edelgard woke hungry when he heard a noise from the living room.

Within, he was struck dumb at what he saw.

Edelgard and the…the creature she had summoned were…entwined on the sofa, the former’s pajama shirt partially unbuttoned while the latter buried her face in the crook of Edelgard’s neck while her hands…searched.

In his shock, he dropped the paper and Edelgard looked, suddenly, to the entryway.

“Hubert!” She gently pushed Byleth off of her who cocked her head and glanced at Hubert with a black, placid expression. “I-I-I didn’t e-expect you just yet, I-”

“What is this?” He demanded. “What the fuck are you doing, Edelgard?”

She glared at him. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“This? You i-i-in the act with this…thing? She’s a demon, Edelgard! A fucking creature of the pit! What the hell is wrong with you?”

“You don’t get to decide who I-I-I see, Hubert! You don’t pick my partners, you’re not my father!”

“No, I’m just the last person in the world who cares if you live or die!”

Edelgard sighed. “Byleth, please wait upstairs so he and I can talk.”

She nodded and padded out. As she passed Hubert, she stared at him and muttered, “Glass blades always crack.”

He glared at Edelgard. “What are you thinking?”

“Maybe that I like her? That she’s beautiful, and helpful, and sweet, and kind to me and maybe, just maybe that I can be happy for one damn second in this nightmare of a life?! And maybe it has nothing at all to do with you!”

“Nothing to do with me?” He seethed. “When have you done anything without me? Who helped you plan this insane scheme? Who gathered the things you needed to summon that demon? Who dragged you, bleeding, from the shower when you were ready to throw everything away?!”

“Don’t you dare throw that in my face,” she hissed, “You have no way of knowing what I was going through.”

“Of course I do, Edelgard! I’ve been here the whole fucking time! I’m the one who picked you up and supported you! I saved your life and here you are, ready to throw it all away again!”

“Throw my life away? Who cares? What does it matter, Hubert? In a year Marchosias takes my soul anyway! I’m already going to hell!”

“What…y-you said you made a deal? You offered him something else.”

“I promised him a share of the reward of my revenge, and we both know damn well there’ll be nothing to give. My soul was collateral. I have a year Hubert, one year to finish this work and get whatever little joy I have left in this world before I’m dragged into perdition. I will not let you interfere with that. Any of it”

“You…you threw it all away for this vengeance. Edelgard…”

“What did you expect?” She grimaced. “What else do I have to lose?”

“Me, Edelgard. You have me.”

“Hubert…”

“No, I…we need a new plan, something you can offer Marchosias and keep your soul.”

“What could he want that I could get?”

“Power? Money? Something, anything. We’ll figure it out, Edelgard, but you cannot give up and subsume yourself in bloodshed and Bacchanalian antics. We have to fight.”

“Can you fight?” She narrowed her eyes. “You’ve flinched at every stage of this, so far. The blood makes you retch. You flinch every time Byleth so much as coughs. You don’t have the stomach for this work, Hubert. Not anymore.”

“M-maybe not, but I can still help. Plan, organize. Support you where I can. I can try to keep you from losing yourself to this, Edelgard.”

She shook her head. “I don’t think you can stop it, Hubert. I don’t know that anyone can.”

“Then all I can do is try. You, take your vengeance. Take your…lover. Do what you need to do to make it through this. I’ll stay where I can handle it, and do everything I can you keep you from losing yourself once and for all.”

“And if you can’t?”

“Then I shall bear that weight, my Lady.”

Edelgard wanted to scream at him. To tell him that it was all pointless, that he was raging against the tide. But his narrow eyes were filled with tears and, in her eyes, he became a child again. She remembered him like this: bearing insults and mockery at her expense. Weeping when he thought no one could hear. She couldn’t help but feel sorrow for him and his doomed task, but she knew the truth would be more cruel to make him bear.

She nodded. He did as well in return and left, quickly.

Would he keep her above water? Or would he drag her down? Only time, now, could tell.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After Hubert left, Edelgard found Byleth curled up on her bed, though she didn’t sleep. She just stared, languidly, out the window as birds flitted from branch to branch in the wide trunked ash tree by the window. When the door closed, Byleth looked, slowly, up at her and simply asked: “Will he be a problem for you?”

Edelgard shook her head. “No. As I said, Hubert’s loyalty to me is solid and more reliable than nearly anything I have to count on. He will stay true. I know it.”

So long as he believes my lies, she thought. That was to protect him, wasn’t it? He would be inconsolable if he knew what fate she had resigned herself too, and may do something horrible or drastic.

It wasn’t that she doubted his loyalty, she told herself, it’s that his loyalty was too strong.

That was it.

“He won’t be a problem, though he may not join us in the field next time.”

Byleth nodded and turned back to the window.

“Byleth?”

“Hmm?”

“About…the last day has been…really special for me, and, uh…I don’t want you to think it’s all…physical between us.”

“You were alone. You needed touch.”

“That’s not it! I really do…care for you.”

“Both are true, though, aren’t they?”

“What?”

“You were empty. Alone Begging for a connection to someone else, someone who you could feel something new towards. That it belied truer feelings does not make it untrue.”

“I…yes, I suppose.”

“I was lonely, too.”

“You were?”

“Yes. I can’t…I can’t remember anyone from…before. But I can feel how long it’s been since I saw them last. Even when I slumbered, I knew I was alone. You freed me from that and filled my soul with warmth and compassion I did not know. I am not lonely with you, Edelgard.”

“Thank you, Byleth. I’m not lonely when I’m with you, either.” She crawled onto the bed and curled up to the demoness, wrapping her arms around her midsection. Byleth was warm and soft to her touch and seemed to meld into Edelgard as they spooned.

“Byleth?”

“Yes?”

“What’s Hell like?”

Despite laying with her back to Edelgard, Byleth still cocked her head at that. “How do you mean?”

“I mean…what’s it like to live there? What do people, er, demons do? I know you may not remember, but-”

“No, I…I remember Hell. Demons are…creatures of Hell, bound and linked to it, unlike humans whose souls are…” she furrowed her brow. “Not linked to a….a domain.”

“You mean transitory. I read about this in some of my family’s books. It’s said that human souls can adapt and survive in any of the worlds of Heaven and Hell. So you mean you know what Hell is…by heart?”

She shook her head. “Not all of it, but…some.”

“So? What’s it like?”

“Different from here.”

“You mean on fire?”

“No, not all of Hell burns. Some parts are dark, and other’s cold. Many are much like this world, though adapted for demons. There are towns and cities. Food and recreation. Lives for the demons to live. And magic there still lives, even as it has faded in this world. It is like air in the Hells, a part of everything and everyone.”

“Do you know about the Demon Princes?”

She shook her head. “I have not. That name is…not familiar.”

“Perhaps it was after your time? Demonology is pretty unclear about the patter of Hell’s rulers. It’s believed that the Prince's roles are stolen and inherited countlessly, so the shape of Hell can change severely over time.”

She shrugged.

“What about…human souls?”

“Human souls?”

“The ones brought to Hell. Wicked souls who die or…or who lose their souls to demons?”

She shrugged again. “The weak ones become wandering damned, part of the latent power of Hell. Stronger ones are usually made to…to serve…”

“Serve who?”

“I…I’m not sure…the demons who take them, I suppose. Some are placed into the armies or other roles. Others rise above, join the demons.”

“Human souls become demons? Wha-how?”

“Some are better suited to Hell than they were to Earth, their souls bond to it, and they are changed.”

“Were all demons once humans?”

“I don’t know. Perhaps. Or not.”

“You can see my soul, can’t you? What…what do you think would happen to me in Hell? My soul…would it fade into a lost and damned spirit? Would I be given a place of importance in some Prince’s servitude? Become a soldier? Would I…could I change? Or is it only the most evil who can do that?”

She shook her head. “It rarely is. The evilest souls tend to be weak and pitiable cowards who wither under the gentlest flames of Hell. The stronger souls…you are certainly one of them. You are no coward, Edelagard. Even with my eyes closed, I can feel the intensity of your soul against mine. But it is not just about strength. Those who change are only those who flourish in the fields of perdition. The ones who are suited to it and find themselves at home amongst the damned.”

“What does that mean?”

Byleth turned over, her face less than an inch from Edelgard’s instantly flushed skin. “A white rose fed on blood has only two choices: to wither into nothing or to feed and turn itself red.”

“Do you think that’s…me? A red rose?”

“It may be.” Byleth pulled her in close, nuzzling her cheek against Edelgard’s neck. “Edelgard von Hresvelg…will you be a crimson flower, I wonder?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for reading! A lot of people were curious about this version of Hubert, and I hope this puts it into perspective a bit more. 
> 
> Also! I don't have a ton of experience writing content warnings, so please let me know if there's something you think I should include so I can update the header notes.
> 
> Thanks again! See you next time! (Probably this weekend)


	7. A Lash of Flame Like a Noose Around Your Neck

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Edelgard and Byleth make another attack on their enemies, and the young woman discovers new heights.
> 
> Elsewhere, Seteth grows nearer to the answers he seeks and makes a dark promise to a tenuous ally.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW: Descriptions of blood and violence.

Blood splashed in ribbons, with just a few crimson drops splatting against Edelgard’s pale jaw. Byleth retracted jagged talons, the body of the guard collapsing amongst the tatters of his body armor. He gasped, suddenly, coughing blood. Edelgard knelt next to him and, without hesitation, plunged the tip of her dagger into his heart, silencing him for good.

Byleth looked back at Edelgard, her eyes wide and blazing with pride, demanding her next order.

“Downstairs,” she commanded, “There’s a safe room in the basement.”

The assault was almost nothing like the last one. Hubert had stayed behind, providing them with detailed knowledge of the compound’s security so they could skirt it. He’d emphasized caution, for them to proceed quietly this time, but that plan hadn’t lasted long.

The building was on the northern edge of Enbarr, a huge, sprawling facility on a broad, open plot. Edelgard had been here before. Before everything fell apart, it was a safe location for the Emperor and members of the government to meet and stay, a Camp where difficult decisions could be made over long days rather than tedious months.

Her father almost always brought them along: her and her siblings. They’d play in the Olympic swimming pool and run on the large grounds. She remembered endless nights in the cozy den, she and her brothers and sisters dozing off while some half-forgotten movie droned on.

She was happy here, once upon a time.

It was different now. The site was closed to all but the Church, with even the members of Parliament now banned from visiting without an escort. The pool she swam in was used by corrupt bishops, while the den where her father had carried her sleeping body out now smelled of tobacco and scotch.

Now, where their leaders once worked tirelessly to provide for the citizens of the Empire, these monsters plotted control and destruction as they rebuilt her Empire into a puppet state.

They landed on the roof, Byleth’s wings carrying them silently to the roof. She remembered an access hatch that would get them into the attic, something her sisters had shown her so they could lay on the roof and watch the stars.

From the moment they touched down she felt her anger mount and burn. These monsters killed her family, seized her kingdom, and now even her precious memories weren’t safe from their villainy.

They watched, through vents, as the guards patrolled the halls. They’d received an upgrade since the last attack: now equipped with high powered rifles and body armor. Her demon didn’t seem impressed, so she wasn’t worried, but watching them trample through the halls all but made her see red.

Byleth grabbed one, pulling him into a ceiling vent before he could even think to make a sound. She held him, mouth and arms bound in an iron grip.

“Tell me where the security hub is,” Edelgard whispered, “And you may live.”

Byleth’s claws twitched. “If you scream,” she promised, “I will break your neck.”

She slowly removed her grip on his mouth.

“It was you,” he gasped, “You killed them. I had friends at Aelfric’s estate. Friend’s we pulled out in pieces.”

“Unless you want the same to happen to you, do as I say.”

“You think I’ll help a heretic commit murder? Before the end of the night, you’ll feel the true wrath of the church, Hresvelg whore. The goddess will visit upon you pain and horror until you beg for death and hellfire, and only then will we allow you to live.”

“Choose your words carefully.”

“Oh, I will. INTRU-”

Quick as thought, Edelgard pulled the long, thin dagger sheathed at her waist and thrust it through the bottom of the guard’s jaw, through his palette and deep into his brain. His shout died in his throat as he twitched and died in her sight.

She sighed, but Byleth’s sapphire eyes blazed at the sight of her summoner.

“What do you command?” She hissed.

“These men don’t deserve our mercy. Leave no survivors.”

The cut a river of blood through the compound, and as it spilled Edelgard felt as though it sanctified the ground the Church had defiled, as though it did something to cleanse the taint they’d left.

It took the better part of half an hour, but finally, as they descended the basement stairs, their targets were in sight. Three this time, Macuil, Timotheos, and Indech, the cardinals responsible for the ‘restructuring’ of the Adrestian government. They advertised it as a service, help for the dwindling nation in the wake of their leader’s death, but really they were undermining what power the people had left: rigging elections, buying or blackmailing officials, putting everyone they could in their pocket so the whole of the Empire would soon dance to the Church of Seiros’ tune.

She reached the bottom of the stairs just as Byleth dispatched the last guard flanking the heavy, steel door to the safe room, his severed head rolling to an inauspicious stop.

“Can you open it?”

Byelth examined the door, testing it with her claws. As she pushed, metal squeaked and bent, and pressurized air hissed from within. She nodded.

“Do it.”

Steel screamed and welding shredded as the demon’s clawed arms bulged with powerful muscle and she began to rip the door free from it’s reinforced frame. A part of Edelgard was entranced by this creature’s power. She envied it, in a way. She imagined nothing could stand between such a being and their deepest desires.

Finally, the door was ripped open, and Byleth threw it aside. Edelgard, knife drawn entered the panic room: a small space walled with stainless steel. There was a table, some chairs, and boxes of non-perishable food. Huddled by the opposite wall were their targets: three wizened old men, each of their faces more sallow and deeply lined than the last, eyes bulging in terror.

“Your reign of terror is over,” Edelgard declared, “Adrestia will finally be free of your-”

The gunshot resounded like thunder.

It was Cardinal Timotheos who held it, he must have had it hidden in his jacket.

Foolish, Edelgard thought, she should have seen it coming. She did, in a way, as time slowed and she could practically see the bullet veer toward her chest. In a way, it made sense for hubris to be her downfall.

The bullet her, and while she felt the skin break and her rib shatter, she felt no pain. Only a dull sense of regret and she fell onto her back, bleeding.

The next moments were a blur of sense and awareness. She heard a howl, and unearthly sound that could only have come from Byleth before the demoness descended on the terrified men. The gun fired twice more, but nothing slowed her carnage.

Edelgard was vaguely aware of the sound of tearing and shredding. She felt the edge of the warm pool of blood touch her shoulder as it spread all over the panic room. Then Byleth was over her. She was beautiful and terrible, drenched in blood from head to toe, more beastly than Edelgard had ever seen: her blood-stained teeth extended into razor-sharp fangs, the sclera of her eyes jet black around her pools of sapphire blue.

She searched over Edelgard, ripping clothes until she found the wound. As her consciousness faded, the young woman couldn’t help but be touched by the demon’s concern and loyalty, even as she died. Perhaps they would meet again after Edelgard’s soul was pulled into Hell.

Darkness pressed in on the edges of her vision. She awaited death.

But death did not come.

Instead, Byelth pressed her lips to Edelgard’s, a deep, bloody, and passionate kiss, and Edelgard felt more alive than she ever had. It was as though her veins had filled with fire that set her soul ablaze, the greatest pain and pleasure the Princess had ever felt, all at once. Her every muscle tensed, her fingers digging into the ground beneath so hard they cracked the cement.

Then, all at once, it faded.

She gasped a deep breath and shot up instantly.

“I…I…” she clutched her chest where the bullet had hit, but there was no pain. She looked down, and there was no wound. “I…how?”

With alarming tenderness, Byleth threw her arms around Edelgard in a tight embrace. “I shared my fire with you. My power. It helped you heal.”

“I…I didn’t know you could do that.”

She shook her head. “It could have killed. Burned your soul to cinders. But I had no choice. You…you were dying, and…”

Edelgard stroked her cheek. “It’s okay, it’s okay. Thank you, Byleth.”

The demon smiled, only made slightly sinister by her fangs. She helped Edelgard to her feet. Her legs felt weak, though she had no idea if it was from the aftershocks of the pain or the pleasure that made them so.

At the other end of the room, the Three Cardinals were unrecognizable in a pile of shredded flesh and blood-soaked cloth. Edelgard nodded.

“We’re done here. We need to leave.”

Byleth nodded. She gathered the woman in her arms, unfurled her wings, and took off up the stairs and out a window before Edelgard could blink.

Cold wind rushed against her face as they soared through the sky, but she nuzzled against Byleth’s shoulder and felt none of it.

She could still feel the warmth of Byleth’s power in her body, the afterglow of it’s heat. She remembered how it felt, blazing under her skin like lava beneath the earth. She remembered how it felt as it lit and caressed her center, the tactile memory making her squirm slightly in the demon’s grip.

This was new.

She liked it.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Seteth grimaced as the third guard in as many hours dashed onto the lawn to vomit on the well-manicured grass.

Idiots, he thought. How were they meant to serve the goddess with such weak wills? Granted, the scene was grisly. If anything, somehow even more so than the last massacre. Combing through the house had taken all morning, and combing the ocean of blood for some degree of evidence proved an uphill battle.

The soldiers had fought back, that was clear enough. Bullet holes were found all through the compound in ceiling and walls, but there was no sign of any attacker's bodies amongst the wreckage. Their body armor appeared to have been for nothing. Nearly every corpse’s protective gear had been shredded on them like tissue with the rest of their body.

And any hope of confirming the assailant’s identities was dashed when they found the facilities servers smashed beyond recognition. And there was no chance of a remote copy, the compound’s system was entirely independent to prevent hacking that may compromise the Cardinal’s work or identities.

Not that that was a concern, anymore. They were clearly already compromised, and Lady Rhea was likely to approve the security changes he applied for, despite the objections of some of the surviving Cardinals.

Seteth was roused from his deep thought by the Captain of his guard.

“Sir?”

“What is it?”

“We’ve completed the forensics on the bodies, sir. We’re reasonably sure the…the pieces we found in the panic room were the Cardinals.”

“There was no doubt of that, Captain, but I suppose it’s best to be sure. What else did you learn?”

“The majority of the bodies match the M.O. from Father Aelfric’s mansion: they were ripped apart with incredible force. Our research team has yet to determine a likely weapon that could do such a thing, and also rip the door off the safe room so easily. We’re examining compact construction equipment, but nothing so far seems appropriate to-”

“That isn’t important. You said most were ripped apart, what of the others?”

“Ah, well, a handful seem to have been killed by a normal blade. A cut to the throat, piercing of the brain or heart. Some had been attacked by the…the other weapon, sir, but the blade finished them off.”

“Just as Aelfric was killed,” he mused.

“The specific type of blade is different, sir, but, yes, the pattern matches.”

“Hmm. She’s getting bolder…”

“Sir?”

“Nevermind. Has our guest arrived?”

“Yes, sir. The perimeter guard has just let him through.”

At that, the front gate opened and a non-descript black town car entered the grounds. It drove to the front of the facility where Seteth waited, and the back door opened to let out a tall, grim-faced man with slick, dark hair and a neat black beard. He approached Seteth.

“Father Seteth.”

“Lord Arundel. How are you?”

“How am I? Some lunatic is dispatching Cardinals left and right? How could I be with that sword against my neck?”

“Yes, I hoped to speak to you on the matter of those ‘lunatics.’”

“What? Oh, Seteth, not again. Edelgard is nineteen years old, and likely the world’s most sheltered young woman.”

“Sheltered in the House of Hresvelg. Who knows what she could have learned there?”

Volkhard frowned. “When my niece was nine I took her rabbit hunting by my family's estate. I shot one rabbit and she cried over it for two days. I don’t believe she’s capable of murder.”

“So you say.”

The front door to the compound opened, and a procession of guards exited hoisting gurneys between them with the remains of the previous night's victims. Many were sealed in body bags, but a few were open, the carnage of their deaths free to view.

Volkhard covered his mouth with a handkerchief. “No human could have done this.”

“Interesting you say that. The Hresvelg family has a long history of…less than human allies, don’t they?”

He laughed. “If you mean that Lycoan was a madman obsessed with the occult, then sure. He certainly believed to have summoned demons in his time. Or have you started to believe the Church’s propaganda, Seteth?”

“The Church has no propaganda, Volkhard, you know that. Only truths.”

“Sure.”

“Do you doubt the word of the Church? Do you hold other alliances than that with the Goddess?”

“You know I don’t,” he snarled, “Your stormtroopers made sure of that. I am loyal to the Church of Seiros.”

“Because you have nowhere else to go. It was kind of the Archbishop to bring you into the fold, even with your…conditions.”

“You needed someone familiar with Adrestian politics. Someone who understood how the game was played, who knew all the shadows an enemy could hide within. Our situation is a mutually beneficial one, Seteth.”

“Then you are willing to tell me, as a representative of Lady Rhea herself, that believe your niece to be innocent of these crimes beyond a shadow of a doubt? That you can envision no sequence of events in which she is complicit in these crimes?”

Volkhard knew better than to hesitate for even a moment. “No. It’s impossible and ludicrous to even imagine.”

“Then we have nothing left to speak of. You may leave, Lord Arundel.”

“I do hope that’s the end of this nonsense about Edelgard.”

“We shall do as the Goddess commands and follow the truth wherever it may lead. If your lovely niece is indeed innocent, then she has nothing to fear.”

Volkhard nodded and headed back to his car.

“And,” Seteth called after him, “If she is not, there will be no saving her from divine retribution. Or you, who has protected her for so long.”

Volkhard suppressed the urge to gulp and hurriedly entered the back seat. They were let back out of the compound and headed back toward the city.

Volkhard hated Seteth, as much or more than any member of the Church. Seteth was a true believer, not uncommon amongst the followers of Sothis, but unique in that he held that belief even with the knowledge of all the horrors the Church had enacted.

He was a zealot, and cruel beyond imagining in that zealotry.

But he wasn’t a fool.

He knocked on the separator to the driver’s compartment.

“Take me to my niece’s house. The back way. And make sure we aren’t followed.”

“Yes, Lord Arundel.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for reading! Sorry this one came in a bit late, life catches up to you at weird times, and I wasn't able to really devote the time it needed until the weekend. I'll try to have another chapter in the next few days to get us back on track!
> 
> I hope you're all enjoying the direction this is going in! It's much more of a challenge than my last Edeleth fic in terms of where things go, but it's also been fun to work out! Also, I've been able to go pretty wild with the sheer scale of it all, especially in terms of the violence and sexuality aspect of it, and it's been fun to play in this new space.
> 
> Anyway, have a good one and see you all next time!


	8. I Burned My Kingdom to Save You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the aftermath of the second massacre, Volkhard check on his niece.

Hubert didn’t want to know.

He truly didn’t. Even as he sat there, quietly feeding eggs into his mouth, he could feel the rolled newspaper to his side staring, taunting him with the horrible and disturbing knowledge he knew it must contain.

He knew enough. Edelgard had sent him a message over their burner line last night. Three simple words: ‘It is done.’

She was safe and alive. That’s all he needed.

He didn’t need to know how the demon massacred its way through the facility. He didn’t need to hear about the rivers of blood and gore that he was sure now ran through the halls like rapids. He didn’t need to know what depths his dear lady had sunk to, how many lives she ended with her own hands, this time. He didn’t need to know.

Hubert sighed, setting down his knife and fork.

He didn’t need to know. But he was so afraid that he already did.

He unfolded the paper and combed through it quickly, pausing the rapid scan of his eyes only long enough to take in keywords.

There was nothing.

Not on the front page, not on the back, and nowhere in between.

Not one mention, aside from a brief article about construction being done at the compound in question.

He sighed again. They were suppressing it. That made sense, he should’ve expected it. One massacre was a tragedy, two became a pattern, and the Church didn’t want the people figuring out what that pattern was tracing.

No, the Church was in the middle of a coup, they needed to be strong and stable in the eyes of the public.

He should’ve been relieved, but he couldn’t be. The possibilities still swam through his head like rivers of blood that made his veins freeze and his stomach churn.

He picked up his phone and dialed Edelgard. It rang much longer than usual. She tended to be pretty fastidious about such things, but he supposed he really didn’t know her the way he did.

Or, rather, who she had become.

Once he was sure he was being sent to voicemail, the line clicked and a very groggy Edelgard answered, “Hello?”

“It’s Hubert. I apologize if I woke you.”

“Yes. Uh, no, I mean. It was a late night.”

“I see. I just wanted to…” What did he want? Every grisly detail? An assurance he was overreacting? Some evidence that the woman he had cared for all his life was still who he hoped she was? “I wanted to see how everything…worked out.”

She cleared her throat. “About the same as last time.”

“So going loud was unavoidable?”

There was the briefest of hesitation before she replied, “Yes. No choice.”

“Well, you may want to know the news hasn’t printed anything. They’ve moved to cover-up already.”

“Hmm, that’s more or less what we expected, I-” she giggled. It was strange, considering Hubert had never heard her make that noise before. “No, stop it!” She laughed. “I’m on the phone. I swear you are incorrigible. I’m sorry, Hubert, what were you saying?”

“Nothing,” he grimaced, “Just checking in. Do you need me to stop by today?”

“I-” she giggled again. “Stop it, that tickles! Um, no, no, Hubert I think we’ll be okay. We can start in on the next phase tomorrow if you like?”

“Of course. I’ll see you then.”

He hung up and set the phone down.

He knew now. He didn’t have to wonder, to dwell, anymore. Didn’t need to obsess.

He knew what happened. What Edelgard did.

Who she was with.

What she was becoming.

He knew.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Edelgard, still laughing, pushed the amorous demon off of her where she was laying bodily over her, planting light, tickling kisses all down her neck.

“Alright,” she chuckled, “Alright, we should get up.”

Byleth gave her a crooked smile before slipping off the bed and sauntering toward the closet.

Edelgard couldn’t help but watch the demoness, nude as the moment they met, as her hips gently swayed with each step. She was truly gorgeous, flawless in an almost inhuman way. Some part of her brain remembered how she looked last night, though. Clawed and fanged and covered in blood.

She felt a stir in her center and rubbed her thighs together to ward it off, to no avail. No, there was no denying that form was beautiful, too. Not soft and perfect, like this one, but beautiful in her terrible, bestial power.

She remembered that power, how it had felt coursing through her, and a gentle blush spread all down her pale skin.

She had been ravenous, unstoppable with desire when they had returned, enough so that she had all but dragged the demon to the bathroom so they could express their passion as hot water washed the layers of blood down the drain. From there, without even drying themselves, to the bed, where the joining of their bodies quickly did away with the soaking chill.

She had no idea when they stopped and fell asleep, but she knew it was late, and even after all that a raging part of her still yearned for the demon’s touch.

In her reverie, she hadn’t noticed Byleth, partially dressed in red underwear and an open, blue button-up shirt, had returned to her side, her breathing heavy and her eyes wide.

She reached down, careful fingertips caressing the curve of the noblewoman’s breast. Edelgard felt flushed all over, but still, the demon’s touch was so, so warm against her skin.

“Edelgard,” she whispered, “Still hungry?”

She breathed out a chuckle and leaned into the demoness’ touch.

“For you, my love? I’m always ravenous.”

Byleth leaned down, soft, pink lips homing in on their target, and Edelgard could feel the demon’s heat against her skin when the doorbell rang.

“Ugh,” she groaned, “Of-fucking-course it rings now. I’m sorry, darling, we’ll have to resume this later.”

Byleth smiled, a gesture that became more sly and coquettish with each passing day, before heading back to the closet to resume dressing.

Edelgard, frustrated beyond reason, tied a heavy, fleece robe around herself and descended the stairs to see just who had decided to ruin what was promising to be a wonderful morning.

She threw open the front door to find, haloed by pale, morning light, Lord Volkhard von Arundel awaiting her, his suit dark and his expression grim, as always.

“Uncle,” Edelgard blinked, “Um, come in. I wasn’t expecting you to come by.”

“Yes,” he said, stepping into the foyer, “It was a bit last minute.” He approached Edelgard, wrapping her in a gentle. “How are you, Edelgard? It’s been some time since we spoke.”

“Oh, uh, fine, fine. Not, uh, not much changes around here, except-”

She was cut off when Volkhard looked up the entryway stairs to see Byleth staring down at him from the top, wearing a red, silk button-up and a pair of tight, black slacks with no shoes. Edelgard could’ve been wrong, but she swore there was something…predatory in her eyes as she watched the strange man embrace her beloved.

“Um, Uncle, this is my…friend, uh, Bella.” She motioned for Byleth to join her, and the demoness padded down the stairs toward them.

“Bella,” he reached out a hand for her to shake, “I apologize, I wasn’t aware Edelgard had any friends by that name. Though I confess I hardly know every facet of my niece’s life. By design, I’m sure.”

Byleth shook his hand and nodded, never once breaking eye contact.

“I know Bella through, uh, Dorothea. You remember her?”

“Yes, the Diva. I see. I take it you’re a singer as well, Bella?”

“A dancer,” Byleth brilliant covered, instantly drying the cold sweat that was forming on Edelgard’s brow.

“Ah, I see.”

“Uncle, please come on in, I can make coffee if you’d like some. I’m afraid we’re just now getting up.”

“Of course,” he chuckled, “Late nights and mornings are the practice of youth. I’d love some.”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Edelgard entered the dining room with a platter of empty cups, containers of cream and sugar, and a carafe of fresh coffee which she set between her guests.

Volkhard and Byleth had taken up the opposite sides of one end of the table, and with no other options available to her, Edelgard sat between them at the head. She poured coffee into cups and handed it to each of them. Volkhard dropped milk into his and sipped it while Byleth gulped hers, unsweetened and burning.

“Bella,” Volkhard offered, “What brings you to staying with Edelgard? Last I’d heard of Mittlefrank they’d been touring Faerghus.”

“Oh,” Edelgard forced a chuckle, “Well, their show doesn’t have many dancer spots this season, you see.”

He nodded. “But why Enbarr?”

“Edelgard seemed…lonely,” Byleth offered, “I decided I should keep her…company.”

“Ah, then I owe you a debt. I often regret that I cannot fulfill such a role in my niece’s life. I appreciate that you’re able to allay it.”

She nodded.

“Uncle,” Edelgard refocused, “You’ve not told us why you’ve come to visit.”

“Ah, I’m afraid it’s a matter of business. But it had me in the area, so I thought it best to stop by.”

“Oh? And what business does the Church have in my neighborhood?”

“Nothing I can speak of, unfortunately. You know them and their secrets. Miss Bella, is everything alright? You’re looking at me like just pulled a gun. I’ve been told I can be…a bit intimidating, at first, but I promise I’m no danger to either of you.”

Byleth shook her head. “I’m not afraid of you. Not of a tiger so thoroughly defanged and declawed.”

“What?”

“Oh, Bella!” Edelgard laughed much too loudly. “She’s always saying such odd things! I think I’m the only one who gets your jokes!”

“Yes,” Volkhard frowned, “Yes, I suppose you are.”

“Um, Bella? Could you fetch me my warmer housecoat? I’m afraid I’m a bit cold.” Byleth nodded and, without a word, exited the dining room. Once the sound of her footfalls faded, Edelgard narrowed her eyes and spoke to her Uncle, “So, what do you think you know?”

“Edelgard, you wound me with such accusations.”

“Save it. You don’t ‘drop by,’ Uncle. You’re here for a reason. So, let me ask again, what do you think you know?”

He smiled a thin, wry gesture. “Always too clever for your own good. Just like your mother. It’s comforting, in its way. I miss her often, but speaking with you is like gazing into the past. Fine. There was an…incident at a Church facility. Camp Aegir.”

“That’s a Church facility now, is it? It wasn’t long ago that was owned by the Adrestian Government.”

“Please, you know the shape of things, now. Soon enough those won’t be two separate entities if they aren’t already. You read of the incident at the Dahlman estate?”

“Yes, a massacre of Church forces.”

He nodded. “The same happened at the Camp.”

“There was nothing in the news, this morning.”

“There won’t be. The Church controls the media, and they don’t want the public tracing a pattern.”

“So there is a pattern?”

“That’s all I can say on that matter, but as for why I came here, I’m…worried about you, Edelgard?”

“You sound like I have something to be afraid of. Is this killer after Church officials have designs on deposed royalty as well? Should I lock my windows?”

“Well, yes, you should do that, it’s just good sense, but that isn’t my worry. I had a meeting with Father Seteth Cichol. You know he’s not your…biggest fan.”

“I am aware.”

“He may have some idea that…that you’re involved in this business.”

“And you believe him? Uncle, is it my turn to be wounded by your words?”

He sighed. “No, Edelgard, but Seteth is…quite sure of what he says, and I’m afraid he may be heading to the warpath. I’m merely advising that you be careful.”

“Careful of what? I’ve done nothing wrong, have I?”

“Seteth will any excuse he can to terrorize you, dear. There is no limit to his pettiness.”

“Well then, Uncle, let me ask again: what do you think you know?”

He sighed, again. “I know my niece. I know the anger you’ve held since the fire. The anger toward the Church. I know what that hatred does to a person, how it sublimates into vengeance. I know you think you’ve lost everything, Edelgard. And I know from personal experience that one always has further to fall.”

“Uncle-”

“I also know that you perfume your sheets with your mother’s favorite scent. I know that your friend, ‘Bella,’ reeked of it. I know that red shirt belongs to you because I’m the one who bought it.”

She grit her teeth. “What are you implying?”

“That the Mittlefrank company is currently performing the Terror of Grima in Faereghus right now, a performance with no shortage of dancing roles. The priestesses of Naga alone represent more than two dozen-”

“Can you arrive at a point?”

“This Bella is not who you say she is, and more than that she is sharing your bed. I have no judgment for you, Edelgard. In truth, it is…heartening that you have found companionship at such a time. But both would be more than enough for Seteth to haul you in on suspicion or claims of heresy. The Church is all-powerful, dear niece, and there is little you can do to stop them.”

Edelgard looked deep into the dark ripples of her coffee.

Then she smiled.

Then she laughed.

“What’s funny?”

“Oh, you don’t know? A shame your intelligence has already failed you, Uncle. What’s funny is that you can somehow believe I’m capable of slaughtering an entire regiment of guards and three Church Cardinals in the dead of night, and still believe I’m powerless against their force.”

“What?”

“Do you want to know what I know? I know that the Church of Seiros killed my family. They burned them in their beds like leprous vermin. I know that they have conquered this nation in the shadows. That they torment our people, cut open children, and send innocents to their deaths all to forward their own twisted schemes. I know that they need to be destroyed, wiped from this earth in a cleansing fire. Purged in boiling blood like they thought they could do to the House of Hresvelg.”

“Edelgard…you don’t…you don’t know what they’re capable of.”

“And they have no idea what I’m capable of, Uncle. Byleth.”

There was no movement or sound. Where the place behind Edelgard’s shoulder was, in one second, empty, it was just as suddenly filled by Byleth, her azure eyes all but glowing despite the weak, morning light.

“My Uncle is leaving.”

She nodded and took a single, small step forward which was enough to shoot Volkhard to his feet and back him out of the dining room.

“Edelgard,” he breathed, “This…what you’re doing isn’t…I understand. I lost everything when the Church took over. Everyone I knew, everything I’d built. They’ll do the same to you.”

Edelgard stood, slamming her palms on the table. The carafe toppled, spilling steaming coffee all over the table.

“That’s because you were a coward! They slaughtered your friends and allies! They turned your precious network, your Agarthan Cult, all reduced to cinders while you watched and cowed to our conquerers! Where were you when the Imperial Palace burned? When my father and my brothers and sisters burned? Where were you?!”

“I…I was doing what I could,” he whispered, “What I promised you mother I’d always do, Edelgard.”

“What?”

“I was protecting you.”

A single, silent moment preceded a realization brought shimmering tears to Edelgard’s eyes. “You…that’s why…that’s why you brought me to…to Fhirdiad? That’s why…why I survived?”

“Edelgard, everything I’ve ever done was all to protect-”

“You knew?!” She screeched. “You knew what they would do? You…you worthless, craven bastard!”

“Edelgard, I-”

“What do you command?” Byleth whispered.

“Leave him. He’s not worth to effort to clean his blood off the floor.”

“Edelgard…”

“Get out. Get out of this house. Get out of the Empire. I will bring the Church to its knees, Uncle, by slaying every Cardinal that’s carved my country to their own image. Flee, now. To Almyra, to Dagda, I don’t care where. But if I see you again, you will take your rightful place back on my list.”

“I…I…”

“Get out!”

Her eyes blazed and her fingers pressed so hard into the table that the wood splintered beneath them. Volkhard could do nothing but dash to the door, tears streaming from his sallow eyes, legs shaking with cowardice until the door slammed behind him. He darted to the car and all but threw himself into the back seat.

“Sir?” The driver said. “Where to?”

“Th-the airport. Take me to the airport, immediately.”

“Sir?”

“Do it!” He barked. The tires screeched as the car took off down the street. Volkhard chances one last look at the Hresvelg manor. To the home of the last family he had. To the house that he knew would one day soon be soaked in blood and washed in flame.

He’d done all he could. That’s what he would tell himself as his legs took him to foreign lands. He would never stop running from that house, even long after it burned and those that made it their home had been all been long dead and gone. Even then he would never stop running.

Ever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, one day I promise I'll start a sexy chapter and not have it end sad! 
> 
> And sorry for the slightly spotty release schedule! Some personal stuff came up and made it tough to take to time to sit down and write. Hopefully things will smooth out this week and I'll be able to pick up the pace. I appreciate you all sticking with me as I figure things out, and I'll see you soon with the next chapter!


	9. My Soul Lights Alive When We Breath As One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Edelgard and Byleth strike another target and encounter something unexpected.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoy this chapter! Also, please check the end notes for an important announcement about my writing.

They thought they could hide him. Deep in Enbarr, at the top of a skyscraper, beyond layers and layers of guards and security, Tomas must have been so comfortable in his little penthouse.

So safe.

So secure.

They had taken two more targets since the attack on Camp Hresvelg in as many weeks. Three more names crossed off Edelgard’s list. Each strike had been cleaner, more efficient than the last, thanks largely to the fact that they could still hit where the Church never expected them to be.

This time, since it was a skyscraper they hadn’t considered the roof, or the ease with which demonic wings might reach it. If anyone came this way, it would be by helicopter or something else noisy and easy to track. Or by parachute, which would have been a one-in-a-million shot among the terrible crosswinds. There’s was no way someone could approach at this altitude silently and accurately.

The two guards on watch were dead in seconds. Byleth handled one after dropping Edelgard on the other, the tip of her dagger piercing skin and bone with what had become practiced ease.

Killing hadn’t just become easier for her, fun, even, strangely and perversely. She had come to take true pleasure in ridding the world of these monsters. Of seeing them slaughtered and driven before them in bloody rout after bloody rout. Victory, violence, and bloodshed became one and the same, and all twirled into the dance of sanguine pleasure that had become so much of her life.

It was only one floor down to Tomas’ suite, and they found the plump, thin-haired man sitting cozily on a sectional couch, lounging in a fleece robe with a pitcher of clear alcohol on the nearby table.

Edelgard smiled as they descended the stairs from the roof. Both were dressed head to toe in black, their faces and bodies covered save their eyes and Byleth’s demonic limbs.

“Cardinal Tomas,” she announced, “Don’t you look at home. You’d hardly know you were a man with a price on his head.”

The Cardinal yelped and scrambled for a remote with a single large, red button. Before he could even touch it, though, Byleth’s clawed hand had his pinned to the table, the remote clutched and held high.

“Ah!” He yelled. “You don’t want to do this! My security-”

“Exempts this floor,” she grinned, “We checked. The roof and the rest of the building are wired to the rafters, but this floor has no surveillance. No microphones. One wonders what you’d be up to if not for the lockdown you were so intent on keeping secret.”

“Please, stop this! Don’t kill me!” He yowled. “Why are you doing this? Who are you?!”

“Don’t? Stop? Please? How many of those words would they have yelled if you hadn’t killed them in their sleep? Would the little ones have begged? Would you have listened?”

“You?! Oh, Goddess, it wasn’t me!” He sobbed. “I didn’t kill them!”

“Oh? Did you know?”

“What?”

“Did you know about the plan? Did you hear the order? Did you raise your voice in protest? Or did you sit here, idly, planning your rise as my family fell?”

He couldn’t answer that, only whimpering and sweating as the demon’s claws pressed harder into his arm.

“What…what is this…this thing?”

Byleth grinned a row of shark teeth. “Your people talk of my kind so often. Claim our influence in the books you burn and the people you imprison. Are you so surprised to see me?”

“You…you’re a demon? A real demon?”

“You should get used to her,” Edelgard snarled, “There’ll be plenty more where you’re going.”

“No, please! I’ll give you anything! Money! Women! Anything at my disposal, yours!”

She smiled. “There’s only one thing I want that you can give.” With a flash, her blade was at his throat. “But I’d rather take it.”

Ripping flesh and a river of red took Tomas from the world of the living in moments as his own heart pumped the blood out onto the velvet couch.

Edelgard couldn’t help but close her eyes and drink in the moment. She could feel it, deep within: the spark in her core, burning ever so slightly brighter and warmer and the death of another monster washed over her. She could feel Byleth’s eyes on her, burning just as hot as they watched, willed the flame to catch.

But it didn’t. That heat that had spread when she and Byleth touched their souls was an ember whom tinder could not catch. She opened her eyes.

“We should go,” she sighed, “Before anyone-”

All at once, every light in the penthouse shut off, plunging them into darkness cut only by the faint city light that came through the windows.

“Edelgard?” Byleth’s voice was panicked, insistent. Edelgard felt her scaly claw grasp at her wrist. “Edelgard, I can hear-”

A burst of gunfire sounded like a drumroll. Edelgard heard bullets impact something, and wet and warm splattered on her face. She wanted to ask if Byleth was hurt but before she could react the demon hoisted her in her arms and took off toward the stairs just as a squad of black-clad men bearing rifles with flashlights burst in through the front door.

The scene was a blur of half-shadows until they burst back onto the roof. Byleth unfurled her wings, but another round of gunfire hit the wall by the door, and she quickly ducked back behind it. She set Edelgard down who, with the light from outside, could finally appraise the situation.

Byleth ripped off her mask. She was covered in sweat and breathing heavily, her large claw grasped over her left shoulder where dark blood flowed. Edelgard moved it out of the way to see a trio of ragged holes underneath.

“Byleth,” she breathed, “What’s wrong? Why aren’t you healing?”

“Wounds won’t…close,” she winced, “And they…hurt. Something new…with the weapons. Different.”

Edelgard heard boots approaching from each end. She pulled the small, thin automatic pistol from a pouch at her side and fired, wildly, in both directions. The guards retreated at the shots.

“There was a helicopter, they must have been waiting to land behind one of the other buildings. If we try to leave, they’ll drop us before we can fly,” Edelgard considered, “Just as bad if we go back down, except we’ll also be boxed in.”

“They can’t kill me,” Byleth heaved, “This is just pain. I can…distract while you…get away.”

“No. Even if that would work, I’m not leaving you behind. I won’t let you hurt while I run.”

Byleth seemed to rack with pain, but somewhere in it, the corners of her mouth twitched. “You are…too kind to me.”

“Nonsense. Now, we need…we need to draw their attention. Two targets will be harder to hit than one, and might give us the opening to take the roof team down and flee.”

“No, you aren’t…you’ll get hurt.”

“Not,” she gulped, “Not if you share your power with me again. More this time, enough to give me some of your strength.”

She shook her head. “No. You could die. Your soul…it could burn out.”

“It won’t,” she insisted, “I can handle. We both know I can.”

Byleth grimaced. “Even so…there may be no going back from this path. You may be changed, forever.”

“Then let me change. Forget who I was before, that woman is dead already, anyway. I only want to be who I am with you, my love. Forever.”

“Then so you shall be.” She pulled the bottom of Edelgard’s mask up and kissed her, deeply. Her tongue was like hot wax in her mouth, scalding and sensual and every beautiful sensation under the sun and moon all at once. Her blood became molten steel, her heart a jackhammer in her chest, and she felt stronger and more alive than she could have ever possibly imagined.

As she pulled back from her lover, the world had changed. Darkness had no meaning, as she saw all as clear as day. She could smell everything. The acrid scent of gunpowder, the heavy odor of blood. She could smell her own arousal and the musk of the sweat on Byleth’s face.

There was color, so much color! She could see it everywhere, twisting and swirling like a typhoon of beautiful tones and shades, many she could not even name. But they didn’t obscure her vision, somehow they seemed to enhance her perception of the world, deepen her view and understanding.

Byleth smiled, her eyes deep and gleaming.

“It’s time.”

Edelgard nodded, and the pair tore out of the stairwell and onto the roof. Byleth, her wings spread, went high, while Edelgard dropped low as a spray of bullets collided between them. They split in each direction towards the two groups of attackers that flanked them.

The guards moved in slow-motion as she rushed them. She was elated, filled with life and joy like she’d not known in as many years as she could remember. She hardly slowed down when she hit the first gunman, her hand grabbing his knee squeezing, tearing it apart like tissue. She felt the blood spill and the bone break but heard nothing but her own joyful scream as she collided with the next, plunging her fingers into his chest until she felt his beating heart and ripped and pulled it to tatters.

The last gunman had raised the barrel in time for her approach and set loose a spray of bullets. One hit her left thigh. The pain was spectacular, a symphony of agony that passed when she felt the slug exit the other side. But, not for one moment did it overtake her rhapsody, and before he could fix his aim she was upon him, tearing him apart like an unwanted doll.

She rose, awash in hot blood, and gazed across the roof where Byleth was dispatching the final guard, ripping his head from his shoulders with a swift swipe of her talons. She turned and they locked eyes, and, together, their souls sang in harmony like she’d never heard, a dirge of death, and joy, and rapture.

She laughed, clear and high into the night, and practically skipped to the edge of the building before throwing herself off, her arms spread where she knew her love would catch her as leathery wings flapped and took them, both, up into the clouds and beyond the night.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When they burst back through the patio doors into the Hresvelg estate, they were already in each other’s arms, lips locked and hands groping for every inch of blood-soaked flesh they could touch. Byleth winced when Edelgard brushed the injury on her shoulder which had yet to close, but their twin passions had lit so strong that no pain could delay them.

They crashed through the parlor, paying no mind to crimson tracked onto rugs or curios knocked over. They only diverted from their reverie in search of a soft, comfortable place to indulge in it.

The fire in Edelgard’s veins had cooled greatly, but the embers still in her soul burned brighter and hotter than ever. What she sought, what she craved was so close within her reach, she just needed to find it, she just needed to-

“Edelgard?”

The deep voice was like a bucket of cold water over her, and the fire turned all to ice when she broke from Byleth’s embrace to see Hubert sat on the couch, a cup of tea in his hand and a magazine that had tumbled from his lap.

“H-H-Hubert, y-y-you…what are you…”

She pushed herself away from the demon, but she could not hide what she had already done. Nor could she conceal the ripped cloth on her leg, or the liters of blood that cooled and dried all over them.

“I…I got a…a message from our informant after you left. They knew that…you were coming. They had a…a strike team…I…I wanted to make sure you…you got away…”

“We, uh….we did. Hubert, I-”

“What the fuck is this, Edelgard? What in the Goddess’s name are you doing with this…you’re covered in,” he wretched, “What is this?”

“It isn’t what it looks like.”

“What then? Please, try to explain how you and this demon weren’t about to fuck while drenched in the blood of men you murdered. Please, I’d love to hear how this all fits together because I just can’t see any other way!”

“No,” she laughed bitterly, “No, you have it all figured out. It must be pleasant to judge me from your pedestal, huh, Hubert? Easy to put behind you those years of crossing out names off a list like they weren’t human lives, isn’t it? Just like your father taught you.”

“And who was I crossing out those names for, Edelgard? Whose family did I serve? Is none of that…that blood on Hresvelg hands?”

“As you can see, Hubert, unlike you I can bear the feel of blood on my hands! I can bear the weight of what I’ve done!”

“And when those deeds drag you to hell? What will you do then?”

“Oh, don’t pretend that you care-”

“ALL I’VE EVER DONE IS CARE,” he roared, “About you, and your life, and your bloody soul, Edelgard! I’ve spent my life caring about you, watching after you, and doing every dirty deed you’ve asked of me! And what have I gotten? Besides trauma, and stress, and the joy of watching the woman who was family to me dig her own path to damnation?!”

“What do you want from me, Hubert? Do you want me to stop? Wash away the blood like it was never spilled? Bury those men like I didn’t take their lives? Would you have me hope the world will simply forget?”

“No, Edelgard, I simply hoped you could walk this path without losing yourself on the way!”

“I should be like you, then?” She sneered. “Battered and broken at what I’ve seen? Useless and neutered in the face of danger? Well, I’m sorry I can’t live up to your expectations of falling apart at the slightest sin I commit. I’m sorry I can’t be the pure little girl for you to pine over, anymore. I’ve embraced this path, Hubert, and I’m stronger and better on it than I’ve been all my life! I’m alive, Hubert! For the first time since my family was killed, I feel reborn and renewed. Can’t you be happy for me? Can’t you take some solace in my joy?”

He shook his head. “I…I’m sorry, Edelgard, but I can’t. Maybe you’re right. Maybe in my head, you’ll always be the little girl who couldn’t bear to say a mean word to anyone. The girl who couldn’t kill a rabbit in a trap. Maybe that’s not fair, Edelgard, but this,” he gestured to her appearance, “I cannot reconcile with what you have become. I can’t…I can’t follow you down this road any further.”

“You’re…you’re leaving? Y-your abandoning me? Now?”

He couldn’t meet her eyes. “I’m afraid of what I’ll do if I watch you descend any further. It’s better, this way. You don’t need me anymore. Not when you have…you don’t need me.”

“Fine then,” she blinked back the tears that stung her eyes. She clenched her fists and squared her shoulders and even drenched in blood could not help but feel like an obstinate child hovering on the edge of a tantrum. “Leave. I don’t need you. I never needed you! The day I stopped listening to you was the best day of my life! It was the I finally started living again! So go! Get out of my life and find someone who wants to see you haunt their doorstep like the cowardly phantom you are.”

Hubert bit back a word and stood. He gave them a wide berth as he crossed the room toward the foyer before he turned back. “I…good luck, Edelgard. Despite everything, I hope you find what you’re looking for.”

He walked out. Edelgard stayed still until she heard the door slam before letting out a long, shaky breath. She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to see Byleth looking at her with a warm, soft gaze.

“It wasn’t you. He had nothing to do but shatter. It was always going to happen.”

Edelgard nodded, stiffly. “I know. You were right. I…let’s get cleaned off. We can take a look at your wound.”

Byleth nodded, took her hand, and together they headed up the stairs.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Seteth sat in his office, lit only by thin starlight and the glow of his computer monitor. The door opened and the Guard Captain strode in. The rug had long been replaced where the man had been bisected upon, but he unconsciously stepped around the spot.

“Sir, final report is in, six men dead, as well as Father Tomas. The special ammunition from the Monastery seemed to have had an effect, though, it seems we had them pinned for a moment. It’s unfortunate we have no more information on their identities, though-”

“Captain?” Seteth piped up.

“Yes, sir?”

“Do you know what the key is to good intelligence is?”

“Uh, I, uh-”

“It’s fine, Captain, this isn’t a test. You have a job, to guard and protect, which I’m sure you know every facet of.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“You see, the trick to good intelligence isn’t simply fooling the enemy. That’s important, of course, but it’s only half the job. See, you need to fool your allies as well. Ensure that, even amongst your closest friends, only the information that must be known is known.”

“I’m, uh, not quite following, sir.”

“Tomas had a certain obsession with such things. It makes sense, he was responsible for the destruction of intelligence that could be used against the Church. Burning books, of course, but also eliminating things that could inspire the public against us. He had the same approach to his own life. He believed his more…unusual proclivities were best not only kept from public knowledge but from sight at all. As such he refused any manner of surveillance of his private quarters.”

“I was aware of that, sir.”

“Of course, the whole guard knew. Which is why, when we moved him to the safehouse it was set up to just that standard. Top floor, heavy guard presence, and security on every floor but his. The only security in the penthouse was the check-in, meaning we could only intervene if he failed to check-in at the regulated times. I personally assured him everything was to standard. At least, that’s what I told him.”

“Sir?”

“Hm, actually, don’t concern yourself with it, Captain. You have more important things to handle.”

“Of course, sir.” He saluted, about-faced, and marched out, the door closing behind him.

Seteth’s computer made a light noise as the process completed. There was a lot of noise for the system to eliminate, especially considering how high he’d needed to boost the audio to get through the thick plastic of that remote.

It was still rough, and the gunshots did little to help, but each run of the process brought the words a little closer to audible.

He hit play.

The click, the clunk, the shuffle. Here they were: “ _We should go…before…_ ” then the next voice, “… _d, I can he_ …”

He frowned and ran the program again. This would work.

Seven Cardinals were dead. That was a tragedy. He knew Lady Rhea must be in tatters over the news, but they could still recover. Build something new on the ashes of what they’d lost.

Tomas, Macuil, Timotheos, Chevalier, Indech, Aelfric, and Noa. Once this worked, their sacrifices would all be worthwhile. It would all come to a close.

This would work.

“… _ard, I can hear_ …”

This would work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, and I have a special announcement!
> 
> My regular readers will have noticed some strangeness in my release schedule for the past few months. That's mostly because, back in August, I lost my job due to COVID. Things are okay for my partner and I at the moment, but to help myself a bit and keep me writing, I've decided to start a Patreon for my fics! You can find it here @ https://www.patreon.com/ghostgirldahlia
> 
> Patrons will receive the fanfic content I post here a week early. In fact, if you head there now, you'll find the next chapter of "I Love You Dressed in Fire and Blood" available in advance at the $1 and above tiers. It's a big chapter and signals a huge turning point for this story.
> 
> Higher tiers will get you access to lots of other stuff, including my original fiction, NSFW fics (fan and otherwise), and the ability to help me decide what I write next! So those of you itching for a continuation of "No One Will Ever Know You" might help me make that happen!
> 
> For now, this Patreon is here to keep me writing as much as I can, which is as much for my benefit as anyone else's (I really think it keeps me sane). Obviously it would be my dream to make enough to write full time for my patrons, but honestly, even the smallest contribution would thrill me to bits. So please take a look if you can, even the thought means a lot.
> 
> Thank you so much for all your support these past months. I truly love my readers, and your comments have gotten me through some really tough times this year. 
> 
> I love you all, and, as always, thanks for reading!


	10. I Will Warm You When You Are Alone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Edelgard puts her plans back together after Hubert's abrupt exit.

There was a certain degree of humor, in Edelgard’s mind, that even after all she had done, all the violence and bloodshed, much of which she was responsible for, she still felt herself getting squeamish as she attempted to extract the bullets lodged in Byleth’s shoulder.

She’d obtained, from under her sink, a fairly extensive first aid kit, and after disinfecting a scalpel and pair of forceps, was straddling Byleth who was lain on the bathroom floor, attempted to locate the foreign objects in the wounds.

“It doesn’t hurt, does it?” She fretted.

Byleth shook her head. “A little further left.”

She followed and felt a little jolt of satisfaction as the tip of the instrument touched metal. She gripped the base of the slug and pulled. While Byleth had seemed entirely unperturbed by the process up to that point as soon as the bullet started to move she grimaced, flinching each time the object shifted until, finally, she managed to pull it free.

“Ah,” she sighed, “Well, there you go. Huh.”

“What is it?”

“Well, it’s…I’m not totally sure what it is. Here, take a look.” She held the slug in front of Byleth to show the intricate symbols that were carved into the outside, slightly warped by the heat of being fired. “This must be what made it, uh, work on you. Do you recognize the symbols?”

Byleth squinted at them. “Maybe, but I don’t know what they mean. They do seem familiar, though.”

As they spoke, the wound began to close and, within seconds, was nothing but a bloodstain and a memory.

“It healed right away. Same as when I got hit back on the roof. It hurt, but the bullet went through and I felt better right away. Byleth, you said you hadn’t heard of the goddess before? Sothis? Or the Church of Seiros?”

She shook her head.

“Hmm. It could easily still be locked away in your memory, but it would make sense that they’d have holy weapons that could hurt demons.”

Byleth shrugged. “Maybe.”

“More concerning that someone thought to use these against us. Someone might be onto what we can do.” She sighed. “Of course, it may just be wishful thinking on their part. Holy weapons for a holy cause, and all that. They can’t really be thinking we have a-a demon on our side.”

“But you do.”

“Yes, but there’ve been no witnesses to our attacks, no cameras or people.”

“Are you worried?”

Edelgard sighed and put her forceps back to work, searching for the second round. “No, I have total faith in you, you know that. Though things will be harder without Hubert.”

“Why?” She winced again as Edelgard gripped the bullet.

“Well, he secured our plans. Figured out where the security was and how to disable it. He may have been less than useless in the execution, but we owe our own successes to his work.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means I’ll have to take over his duties for the remaining Cardinals. It shouldn’t be terribly difficult, scouting the locations, stealing plans, convening with our informant. It will just be a lot on top of my own responsibilities. No matter, though. With Uncle fled to the gods know where, there are only four left: Alois, their warden, Catherine, their assassin, and Seteth, the assistant to Lady Rhea. I’ll be glad to end him once and for all.”

“You said four?” She whimpered as the final slug was pulled free.

“Flayn is the fourth, the youth organizer. You met her just after I summoned you. She runs the…I suppose you could call them indoctrination programs. I’d just like to avoid killing her if we can. She’s so young, and I really don’t think she has any malicious intent behind what she does. She really is a believer.”

“The young lion doesn’t kill because it hates, Edelgard. It kills because it must. Because it has been taught to do so.”

“I know what you’re saying, but once the Church falls I can’t imagine she’ll be a danger to anyone.” She applied alcohol to a cloth and began to wash the blood from the places on Byleth’s back where the wounds once were.

“You said the same of Hubert.”

“What?”

“That he would not betray you. That he would not abandon you.”

“He hasn’t betrayed me, but I…yes, I was wrong about him. But Hubert is…was dear to me. That clouded my judgment.”

“Did you know he loved you?”

“Yes,” she sighed, “I’ve known for a long time. My sisters used to make fun of him for it. But we never spoke of it. I thought it…kinder that way than to reject him outright. He knew I didn’t share his feelings. That my interests lay…elsewhere.”

Smooth as silk, Byleth turned over, exposing her smooth, bountiful breasts to the young woman who could not help but flush slightly at the sight.

“And where are your interests now?”

Edelgard smirked. “What do you know? I think I have everything I could want right here.”

Byleth clutched her hand and guided it to her breasts where pale fingers sank into soft, warm flesh. “Then what are you waiting for?”

“Nothing. There’s nothing holding me back.”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the days that followed Hubert’s departure, Edelgard spent much of it anxious and alone. Her former partner was a meticulous man and, while he made sure she always had access to his materials, sorting through them proved a greater task than she initially assumed. Encrypted hard drives crammed full of blueprints, photographs, prospective plans, and rundowns of established facts were extremely helpful, but the sheer quantity served an almost impossible task to sort without Hubert’s proprietary knowledge of how they were organized.

Edelgard spent long, thankless days hunched in front of her computer trying to make sense of it all, though to limited avail. The only thinking that made the time bearable was the nights when she, achy and frustrated would convene with Byleth who’d spent her day bored and idle and they would work out those emotions between the noble woman’s sheets. This became her norm, and by the third day, she no longer found reason to ever wear anything other than her silk pajamas which would spend the night bundled on the floor of her room.

Byleth, meanwhile, found no reason to wear anything since they no longer had to anticipate surprise guests at any hour. Edelgard, at first, found this state embarrassingly distracting, but by the end of the week, she had accustomed to her lover’s form enough that the only emotion it aroused was a deep, dark hunger which was sated by their lovemaking, but always rose anew the next day. Edelgard found need to banish her love to the living room while she worked where the demoness would spend her free hours surfing through the channels with lazy attention.

She was doing as much when Edelgard came downstairs, feet stomping and hair frazzled in a reflection of the childishly perturbed expression on her face.

“Enough!” She huffed. “I’ve had enough of that dour moron’s insidious hard drive and it’s useless contents! Was alphabetical not organized enough? Chronological too chaotic? Whom involved in the creation of the Dewey Decimal System wronged him?”

“No quarry, my love?” Byleth was lounged, nude and languid along the couch watching some old sitcom with the volume barely audible. At the moment a balding man in a suit was saying something animatedly to a similar-looking, though thinner, man and a silver-haired man with a cane while a small dog had its head buried in a bowl of hors d’oeuvre.

“No. It would be easier to hunt deer blindfolded with a slingshot than to make sense of that infernal collection. No, if we’re to move forward, it’ll be by our own intel, not Hubert’s.”

“So what shall we do?”

“Reach out to our informant, see if she can provide us relevant intelligence on the last Cardinal’s location. Once we have that we may be able to formulate a plan. Perhaps then the endless list of schematics and blueprints will prove useful. I’ve already reached out, I’ll be meeting her tonight.”

“I’ll prepare to leave.”

“No. She already knows I’m involved, but I’d rather keep you from her so long as we can. Need to know, and all that.”

Byleth sat up. “Are you sure that’s wise, Edelgard? You could be at risk.”

“It’s a public space I know well, and far from Church territory. Relax, darling, everything will be fine. I’ll have a quick word with her and be back before you know it.”

Byleth made a face. “I dislike you being beyond my reach. Outside of my protection.”

Edelgard sighed. “Alright, I’ll tell you what,” she went to a nearby cabinet and pulled out a flip phone, “This is a cell phone, one of the burners, the, uh, temporary ones Hubert and I used. Do you understand? ”

Byleth nodded.

“I’ll have mine while I’m out. If I sense even the slightest amount of trouble, then I’ll text you. So if this buzzes, you have permission to race to me as soon as you can. Is that acceptable?”

Byleth nodded. “As you command, Edelgard.”

Edelgard smiled and leaned down to her, planting a soft kiss on her lips. “It’ll be fine, darling, I promise. I’ll return to you before you know it.”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Much of Enbarr was like a museum, filled all over with positively ancient structures from pre-Sothic monasteries, to antique noble houses, statues, arches, and symbols of the Adrestian Empire from across history.

Despite this, however, in the spaces between these vaunted artifacts Enbarr was a deeply modern city, and in the shadow of the Arch of Victory, built in celebration of great victory nearly six centuries prior, was a vibrant and glimmering outdoor mall that had become a jewel of Enbarr’s nightlife.

Edelgard made her way through, pale hair concealed by a red hooded sweatshirt under a black leather jacket that kept out the autumn night’s chill. She passed rows of closed shops as well as groups of carousing friends and amorous lovers, out to see what they might find in the city after dark.

Finally, round an island of shops, she came to her destination: an outdoor cafe light romantically by shimmering string lights and antique lampposts, a grouping of two dozen metal tables arranged around a circular serving counter where hot coffee and liqueur drinks were brewed.

After a moment of searching, she found her target: a nervous young woman with violet hair cut into a jagged bob. Bernadetta sipped at a mug of creamy tea, her eyes darting back and forth while a sheen of sweat formed on her forehead.

Edelgard rolled her eyes. Why Hubert picked Bernadetta of all their prospective informants would never fail to confound her. The girl was as suited to espionage as a ferret was to driving stick shift.

Careful to keep her head pointed down, she strode over to Bernadetta’s table, careful to measure her speed so as not to seem too eager or too hesitant. When she pulled out the other chair, Bernadetta jumped and squeaked.

“Ah! I-I-I-I-I’m s-s-sorry, that seat is, uh-”

Edelgard lifted her head enough to make eye contact with her. “Bernadetta, it’s me.”

“Oh! Uh, oh no, uh, sorry, I-”

“It’s fine. Please relax.” She sat in the metal seat. “What do you have for me?”

“I…um…usually, uh, Hubert is the one who-”

“Hubert’s no longer a part of this. You’ll be working with me directly from now on. Now, what do you have on the locations of the remaining subjects?”

“Um, Edelgard, I overheard from…Seteth came to see Flayn and, uh, are you…they said someone is…killing the Cardinals.”

“Keep your voice down.”

“Oh, uh…”

“Is there an issue, Bernadetta? We were very clear at the beginning what this would entail and what you may be party to.”

“I know, it’s just…”

“If you’re worried about consequences, once we’ve reached the end of the operation there won’t be anyone capable of bringing you to any sort of justice.”

“I-I know, but-but…they said that they…they massacred people. Dozens. More than a hundred, now. Was that…was that you?”

The hairs on the back of Edelgard’s neck stood on end. When they were in prep school, Edelgard had seen people steal food from Bernadetta’s plate and cheat off her tests, and the young woman wouldn’t so much as raise a word in defiance. This confrontation, it seemed too far out of her character. Something was wrong.

“Bernadetta, why are you asking me this?”

“Oh! I-I, uh, I just-”

“I’m leaving. Don’t contact me again.”

She went to stand, but a heavy, metallic click stopped her in her tracks. The couple at the table to their right had stood, and each had drawn a black, automatic pistol that they leveled on Edelgard. The couple on the other side did the same. In fact, everyone in the cafe seemed to be at attention, staring at her table with their hands reaching for concealed arms.

Edelgard cursed to herself. She’d been too focused, too intent on reaching her destination. She hadn’t taken stock of the other people in the cafe. She certainly hadn’t noticed the petite woman at the table behind Bernadetta, how suspicious it was that her hood concealed her identity as deeply as Edelgard’s had. That woman stood and threw the hood back, and a wave of panic hit Edelgard as long, green curls sprung into view.

Flayn stepped forward and put a hand on Bernadetta’s shoulder, which dis nothing to quell her violent shaking and welling tears. “You won’t be going anywhere, Lady Edelgard. Calm yourself, Bernie, you did very well.”

Bernadetta buried her face in her hands, shoulders wracking with sobs.

“Flayn,” Edelgard growled.

“My father wishes to inform you that your efforts to conceal your involvement in recent events were quite well organized. He commends you on lasting as long as you did. Please apprehend her.”

The couple from the right table rushed over, pinning the young woman’s hands behind her back and slapping them with handcuffs.

“You bitch,” Edelgard spat, “Both of you, you worthless boot-licking worms.”

“That’s enough of that,” Flayn’s composure was unshakable, “We have no interest in hurting you, or delivering you to any prison. I still have hope for the sanctity of your soul, Edelgard, and your womanhood as well. I think you’ll find out education centers quite comfortable, and the curriculum very effective in guiding our most wayward souls.”

“You mean your indoctrination camps? Yes, I’ve heard the ones who don’t end up at the end of a rope turn into very productive members of society.”

“The Goddess provides absolution for all, whether it is in this life or the next. Now, we can conduct this very peacefully, all you have to do is tell me where your assault team is.”

“Assault team?”

“Don’t play dumb, we have a recording of one of them reporting directly to you when they killed Father Tomas. What are they, a mercenary troupe? Dagdan assassins? We’ll uncover the truth either way, so why not make it easy on yourself and-why are you laughing? Why is she laughing?”

Edelgard had begun to laugh, softly at first, but by the time Flayn was talking about mercenaries and assassins she had risen to a bold, uproarious cackle.

“Oh ho ho,” she chuckled, “That’s what you want? That is just too rich, little Flayn.”

“What is?” She demanded.

“This was a sting to catch the mastermind. Catch the head so it leads you to the arms. I was so worried these past weeks you’d sussed out the whole plan, but you have no clue, do you?”

“You must have truly lost your mind, Lady Edelgard, if you think this is anything but checkmate. We have you, regardless of whatever you’re babbling about.”

“Oh, you certainly would have me. If I were just the mastermind, that is.”

She could feel it, deep in the pit of her soul: the spark. The red flower of flame and power that she had felt growing there for so many days and weeks. Sometimes it only came to her in the throes of passion or anger, but now, as she brimmed with confidence those burning petals blazed.

She tested the chain between her shackles. It went taught and, in less than a seconds, she could feel the links start to warp.

“You can keep bluffing all you want,” Flayn declared, “But this is the end. We finally have you, Edelgard von Hresvelg, and the Church of Seiros finally sees you for what you are.”

“You,” Edelgard laughed, “Have no idea what I am.”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

…Elsewhere, beyond Fodlan…

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The sun in Almyra always seemed to shine its brightest, no matter the time of day. Volkhard had grown up on his family's estate in the north of Adrestia. It was a decent place, but a gloomy one, seemingly always beset by clouds and rain. All his childhood he and his sister had spent their days indoors and under an umbrella for fear of catching their deaths out there.

Volkhard couldn’t decide if he preferred the change or hated it. It seemed to shift with each passing day whether he preferred to spend his time lounging by the pool at his resort or moping in his room with the shades drawn.

It was a good enough place, high quality despite how far off the beaten path he’d ventured. At the very least it was enough for now until he could secure something more secure and permanent. Volkhard couldn’t pretend that he had friends outside of Fodlan, but his days as a spymaster had earned him enough favors to call in so he could disappear.

At the moment, he was sulking in his room. The noon sun had aggravated him so much he shut it out completely, drinking Almyran rum straight from the bottle in the half-light of his quarters.

He still saw her eyes: placid and blue like the surface of a forest lake. But he knew a shark dwell in those waters, teeth bared and ready to rip a man to shreds for no greater crime than disturbing the surface.

Volkhard had stared death in the face dozens of times over his career. He’d stared down the barrel of every type of gun he knew, felt sharp steel against his throat, chest, and other places he’d prefer to forget. Never once did he blink or cower. Never once did he sweat.

But looking in that woman’s eyes, that Bella, every ounce of his blood ran cold. He felt like a mouse staring into the open maw of a tiger. He boarded the plane with no luggage, no plan, no thought but to get away. Not until he’d landed and felt the Almyran sun on his skin he really take stock and make a plan for what was next.

He wasn’t sure where his future would be. Perhaps he’d head to Dagda, see if his knowledge of Fodlan’s inner workings could get him some favor with their old foe.

Or perhaps he’d go East. He had friends who’d traveled beyond the Eastern sea and very much enjoyed what they’d experienced. Cornelia spoke endlessly of the quality of the food and the beauty of the lands.

He sighed into his glass. He missed Cornelia. Odesse. Monica. Chilon. Pittacus. All of the ones he lost when the Church came to Adrestia.

They called themselves Agarthans. A silly idea, he mused, a promise they’d made to restore the land to the fabled days before history. To raise the City of Shambhala and become as unto gods. Had it not been for the Church, for the assassination of the royal family, for his own soft heart that lead him to put his niece above his ambitions, perhaps one day they would’ve done it.

It was a nice dream.

There was a knock on the door and a voice called through, “Room service.”

He stepped over to the door and looked through the peephole. A tall woman with long, dark hair tied in a braid stood before a cart with a silver platter. She was a little lighter complexioned than most of the Almyran’s he’d seen, but he was pretty sure he’d seen her around the resort. He opened it and let her through.

“Where would you like it, sir?”

“Anywhere is fine. Just put it over there.”

She wheeled the cart in while he went back to the side table where he’d left the rum, pouring himself another drink.

“Are you enjoying your stay, sir?”

“Hmm? Oh, yes, yes. Bit warm.”

“Yes, I guess it’s quite a bit colder in Adrestia this time of year.”

“How did you-”

He rounded and found himself down the barrel of a small pistol fitted with a silencer. The silver platter had been uncovered, but the plate beneath was empty. The woman pulled on her dark hair with came free, revealing platinum locks beneath pinned tight to her head.

“You’re a tough man to fins, Lord Arundel.”

“Catherine. I might’ve known.”

“You might, but you aren’t quite the spy you once were, are you?”

He chuckled, darkly, and shook his head. “So, a gun? Where’s you’re famous ‘holy sword?’”

“You think you deserve Thunderbrand? Oh, Volkie, you should feel lucky I made the trip myself. Honestly, if you weren’t a Cardinal we’d have farmed this out to one of our third-string hitmen. But don’t worry, I’ll make sure that niece of yours gets the five-star treatment.”

“You can’t kill her.”

“Oh, I’m pretty sure I can. But, hey, don’t worry. I’m sure you’ll see her real soon.”

“You won’t beat her. Edelgard will bring the Church to its knees. She will bury each and every one of you-”

He was stopped short by three loud clicks that accompanied each silenced shot: two in the chest, the third in his head. Volkhard von Arundel collapsed in a heap, dead before he even hit the ground.

Catherine, satisfied at her work, stripped off the waiter’s vest and turned her shirt inside out to reveal a bright, fun pattern. She removed the pins in her hair and shook the blonde locks free, and, in moments, had transformed from a buttoned-up hotel server to a fun, somewhat butch looking woman on vacation.

She stepped out of the room and let the door close behind her, not forgetting to apply the ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign before she strolled down the hall, whistling a jaunty tune as headed back into the Almyran sun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! And a special thanks to my wonderful patrons BitterPill, Vornelle, and autonymousAscension for helping make this chapter happen!
> 
> If you like my work and would like a way to support me directly, consider throwing a few dollars to my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/ghostgirldahlia where you can read chapters a week before they show up here (including the next Chapter of this!) and read bonus content from my fan work and original content!
> 
> This chapter has some big pieces coming into play for this one, enough that the pace of this should ramp up a bit soon. My current guess has this story ending around Chapter 20, erring on the side of longer, I think? Anywho, thanks so much and see you next time!


	11. This Path is Lined With Blood

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The game is up and Edelgard has been brought into the light.

When Edelgard snapped her shackles like twigs everyone looking on, from the gunmen to Flayn and Bernadetta, froze in shock and terror. Even as she gripped the arm of the man to her right, twisting it until bones creaked and shattered and he shouted in agony, no one had regained enough sense to react, only, finally, moving when the disarmed man’s gun barked three times, each shot taking down a nearby guard.

By the time they finally leveled their weapons at the young lady, she was darting out of the cafe, ducking behind steel tables which sparked as bullets collided with them.

Edelgard wasn’t a fool. Even the ecstasy she felt in indulging her new powers didn’t impede her judgment so much to think she could handle two dozen trained and armed Church soldiers on her own. She needed distance and time, enough to either lose her pursuers or to send her SOS text to Byleth.

That presented its own issue. She’d yet to be hit, but her instincts told her that they were still using those holy bullets, which meant their shooting gallery would pose a legitimate threat to Byleth as well as her.

She ducked around a corner passed a clothing boutique as lead slugs broke bricks into red dust behind her. Before her pursuers caught up she dipped into an alley behind the store and pulled out her phone. She’d had it queued to a text to the burner Byleth held that simply read ‘NOW.’ She hit send at the same time gunfire and flying lead turned her phone to shrapnel that cut her hand open.

Edelgard snarled and leaped at the offending gunman. Two muzzle flashes went off. White-hot pain ran across her shoulder but faded just as quick and she struck the pistol from his hand and twisted his wrist behind him. She felt joints pop under her grip and the gunman howled just as his cohorts caught up with Flayn in tow, their weapons leveled at her and her captive.

“You shoot, he dies,” Edelgard barked.

“That man is a holy warrior of the Goddess,” Flayn declared, “He is more than willing to die in her service. Give up, Edelgard. It is not too late to save your soul, to cleanse this unholy blight from you virgin blood.”

In spite of everything, Edelgard had to suppress her laughter at the word virgin. “You can’t cure what isn’t a disease, Flayn. I’m stronger, better than I’ve ever been.”

“You wish nothing more than this violence? You were a lady, Edelgard von Hresvelg, pure and innocent with so much to offer Sothis in your service. Now, look at you: tarnished and unclean, bereft of even your humanity.”

“So I’ve lost my humanity? Fine. If I’m not a human, if I am just a weapon then I’ll be a blade so sharp that it cuts the heavens themselves! My steel shall shine so bright that even the light of you Goddess shall turn back to blind her! If I can’t be human, I’ll be a weapon without peer or limits! One that bleeds and slays the gods themselves if they dare to curse me with their hollow eyes!”

Flayn shook her head. “It’s so sad to see you fallen so far. So be it, Edelgard. Guards, send the Lady Hresvelg to the Goddess for judgment.”

“You still think you’re in control,” Edelgard laughed. The burning in her soul had grown brighter, the flames quivering in anticipation of what was racing to her aid, “You don’t know anything!”

Byleth hit like a meteor of flashing claws and snapping fangs. The men surrounding Edelgard fell to pieces, replaced by the hovering form of the demoness. She was more than Edelgard had ever seen of her: arms and legs scaled to the joints, wings wide and silent on the wind. Her teeth had extended like a shark’s, pointed and gleaming like daggers, and her eyes were brighter than they’d ever been. Even in the dim light they shone, providing their own glow around sharp, slitted pupils.

Flayn and the guards were frozen, in fear or reverence, it did not matter for the difference brought no warmth to the ice in their veins.

“Protect Edelgard.” It was not a statement. It was a command that the world seemed all too ready to bend to her will.

“K-K-K-Kill her!” Flayn shrieked. The gunmen, in their shock, began to fire at the demon who whipped away at lightning speed, only stopping to kill another before whisking away in the shadows. They fired where they could, panic turning their training to dirt in their minds until the promenade became a storm of gunfire. Edelgard’s captive took a stray bullet to the side of the throat that severed his windpipe. She threw him aside and dove to the ground.

“Kill her!” Flayn screamed, again. Her placid face had gone manic, her great, green eyes wide with horror. “Shoot her! Kill! Kill it! Kill that devil before it-”

As Flayn fell silent, so did the gunfire. She looked down at her chest where crimson pooled quickly, soaking her fine, silk shirt.

“I…I…” She gasped. “I…wasn’t…”

Whatever the next words were, no one would ever know them as Flayn fell first to her knees, then to the ground where she stirred no more.

The remaining guards could not move or speak, only watch as their Cardinal died before them. Even Byleth had paused her assault to gaze upon the girl’s death, her eyes dispassionate but respectful. There was a tug on what remained of her shirt, and she turned to see Edelgard.

“We should leave,” she whispered, “Take me home.”

Wings flapped and air gusted, and by the time the guards looked back, they were gone.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was a long journey to Garreg Mach, and Seteth had needed a plane, a car, and finally a helicopter to reach the lonely peak where the Church of Seiros made its home, but finally, well into the night, he disembarked into the large, grassy field where the chopper had landed in sight of the great, stone buildings.

He was finally ready to present his case to the Archbishop. His long years of suspicion, planning, and worry would coalesce in these moments, and with his superior’s permission, he would finally be able to purge the curse of House Hresvelg, along with their collaborators, their legacy, and their last heir from the earth.

With this, the Church’s grip on Adrestia, the wildest nation in their influence, would be settled for the first time in a millennium. He may be made a Saint for his efforts, he mused, not that rewards or titles were anywhere near his mind. No, he was only concerned with serving the Church and delivering the Goddess’s will upon the world.

The entrance hall was quiet, hardly a surprise at this time of night, but something put the Cardinal’s senses on edge. The guards who greeted him seemed…off. Restrained in their response. That may be normal, he had little knowledge of the day-to-day at Garreg Mach when he was away, by design, of course. This was the most secret and remote location in Fodlan, with even the terrain of the great Oghma Mountains, lost to history save for the Church itself.

He was only put at ease when he was finally approached by his welcoming party: a tall, broad-shouldered man with soft brown hair swept back in a coif and a handlebar mustache that was split under his nose.

Seteth managed a smile and reached out a hand. “Alois, good to see you safe and whole.”

“Yes, yes, of course. Not much chance of trouble here.”

“I see. And no disturbances in the catacombs?”

“Oh, no. We haven’t had so much as a prison riot in two hundred years, I don’t see that changing no matter what happens out in the world. Um, Seteth, I take it you haven’t received any messages tonight?”

“Hm? No, there’s no reception in the range, and with the blackout, I figured it best to just leave my phone back at the base of the mountain.”

“Ah, then you haven’t…”

“What is it, Alois? You’re making me nervous.”

“I…you know they were attempting a sting on Lady Edelgard back in Enbarr tonight?”

“Of course. Oh, did it go poorly? I had a feeling she might be ready for such maneuvers, we’ll just have to-”

“No, Seteth, you need to listen. The point of contact was Lady Varley, if you recall? Well…your daughter…Flayn insisted on joining the team.”

“What?” Seteth felt a sheen of cold sweat break over his brow. “No, no, she shouldn’t have been permitted under any circumstances to-”

“With you gone, she was the only Cardinal in the city, Seteth. There was no one who could tell her no. Look, the sting went sideways and there was a…a fight.”

“By the Goddess…is she hurt? Was she hit? I need to go back, immediately, I have to be with her if she-”

Alois put a firm but gentle hand on his shoulder to keep him in place. “Seteth, you don’t…Flayn was hit in the crossfire, but she…Seteth, she’s dead.”

The ground beneath Seteth’s feet fled, leaving to plummet into a cold, endless void below.

“It…she…she can’t be…”

Alois shook his head. “We received confirmation an hour ago. I’m sorry, Seteth, there was nothing anyone could have done.”

“Nothing?” He whispered. “Nothing? Nothing?! We could have burned that Hresvelg whore in her bed with the rest of her blasted family! We could have refused to deal with that black-hearted snake, Volkhard, and done what the goddess demanded! Nothing could be done?!?! We could have rained cleansing fire on the whole blighted Empire and struck them from the world before they could visit another catastrophe upon the good, innocent children of the Goddess!”

“I know you’re upset, but we need to keep our heads-”

“Keep our heads? I’ll keep my head, I’ll keep the heads of every blasphemous cur who dares spit upon the Goddess’s light! We will mount them on pikes before the ruins of the Imperial palace so they know just what fate awaits heretics and traitors! And I will start with the head of Edelgard von Hresvelg and anyone who dares call her a friend! Now, Alois Rangeld, are our motives aligned, or do you question the will of the Goddess?”

“N-N-No! No, of course not! I-I-I’ll do anything you need! Um, on the matter of Edelgard’s friends, well, there’s someone here you should speak to. He’s in holding, but, uh, he came to us.”

“Take me there, now.”

“But your audience with the Archbishop-”

“She will understand the delay. She knows the value of action in times of crisis. Now, let us take action.”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When they arrived back at the manor, Edelgard did not feel that usual rush she did after their excursions. The joy and adrenaline were replaced by a solemn, dark indecision.

To Byleth’s credit, this did not escape her notice, and when Edelgard fled to the kitchen she pursued closely.

“I’m fine,” Edelgard insisted, “I’m serious. We need to get ready and get out of here. The Church knows we’re behind this, their next attack won’t be far behind.”

“Edelgard…”

“We need to make sure we-”

“Edelgard.” She insisted. “You need to stop. You’re burning.”

“No I’m not, Byleth, I was barely even grazed by-”

She shook her head. “Not on the outside. Your soul. You’re questioning what you’ve done, where you’re going, all of your ambitions in the wake of what’s happened.”

“I…no, I’m not, I just-”

“You didn’t want her to die. You didn’t think she deserved it.”

Edelgard looked at the floor. “You said yourself, she was dangerous.”

“But that’s not what you believed. If you continue to question yourself, what you’ve become, the fire in your soul will consume you.”

“I…I…I…” Tears filled Edelgard’s eyes. “She wasn’t supposed to…to be there. Why was she there? Flayn, I knew her…we were children when we met. She was always so sweet, and caring, and innocent. But there, at the end…she told them to kill me. Why was she there?”

“Because your enemy does not discriminate in their pawns. Because, to them, even the innocent are only tools to be used until they break. She was crafted, carefully into their weapon. It is not your fault you didn’t see it.”

“How do you live with it? With the lives you never wanted lost? With the damage done around you?”

Byleth thought on that for a moment. “You must be sure of your cause. Know that, no matter the unexpected cost, the objective is worthwhile and your motivations are pure.”

“I don’t think my motivations were…were ever pure. I know when the Church is dealt with that Fodlan will be better off, that the people will be free for the first time in thousands of years, but…but I don’t care. I want vengeance. I want blood and fire. I want to drive the people who hurt me into the ground and salt the earth where they lay so nothing may grow there again. That’s not pure.”

“It’s not moral, but it is pure. You know what you want. Being sure to make your soul strong. Resilient. It lets you survive the fire that surrounds it. Deviate now, and you will not survive. Accept there will be costs to what you do. That the young woman’s death will not be the only sacrifice in the name of your vengeance.”

“It’s not just Flayn. Uncle, Hubert, Bernadetta…all left or betrayed me as I proceed down this path.”

“You must cast them from your mind. Focus on your goal.”

“You make it sound so easy to let it all go. To not care.”

Byleth’s expression softened. “Edelgard, I do care. I care about you. Nothing else. You are my focus. You are my goal.”

Edelgard smiled. “I think I understand, I…did you hear something? I could have sworn-”

Time slowed as the wall to the kitchen exploded next to them and a figure clad in white cloth and gleaming, silver armor burst through. Byleth, quick as thought, grabbed her beloved and darted for the exit, but somehow the figure anticipated and was waiting for them. Edelgard saw the world as a blur and only saw a stream of light and color that was stained by a sudden burst of bright red. Byleth slammed a clawed foot into the ground causing a cloud of cutting splinters to explode into their assailant’s face giving the demon the opportunity to dash out of the hole their attacker made and retreated into the dark backyard.

Byleth set Edelgard onto the soft grass and dropped to a knee, clutching the stump where most of her left arm used to be.

“Oh, gods, Byleth, are you okay?”

“I’ll…I’ll be fine. I can heal. She’s coming.”

“She? Who are you-”

“Those are some sharp moves! You gave up your arm to save your head. Risky, but smart!”

A woman stepped out from the hole in the side of the manor. She was tall and broad with golden-brown skin and pale blonde hair tied in a practical ponytail. Her outfit was something out of a renaissance fair, a mix of white robes and steel armor covering everything below her neck, and in her hand was the strangest weapon Edelgard had ever seen.

It appeared to be a seven-branched sword, but it was long enough that it must have been sized for someone twice the woman’s height. It was made entirely of a rough, pale material that almost looked like fossilized bone, and, where the blade met the hilt, a sphere the size of a tennis ball was set into it carved with a strange, runic mark.

“Thunderbrand Catherine,” Edelgard hissed, “Rhea’s attack dog.”

“Ooh,” she whistled, “You know, just knowing that name is technically high treason. But I guess that Uncle of yours wasn’t much good with other people’s secrets, huh? And you,” she pointed her sword at Byleth. Despite its size, she seemed to manage it without any strain. “You’re not exactly human, eh? Guess that solves the mystery of how little Edie here caused us so much trouble.”

Edelgard glanced at Byleth. She had taken her demonic form, and as if to prove Catherine’s point, the blood had stopped spilling from her stump and had begun to twist and shape into a facsimile of her lost limb, slowly gaining color and texture until her arm had fully restored.

Catherine grinned, “I’m actually a little excited. Lady Rhea gave me Thunderbrand ages ago after I finished the knight’s college, but I’m always just taking out fat nobles and hapless heretics. Seems like I’ll finally get to really push my limits here, huh? Hey, indulge me, but are you another one of Rhea’s, uh, ‘special kids?’ You’re a little like some of the washouts, but I don’t remember any who could do all that and still keep their senses.”

Byleth had no answer and cocked her head at the assassin.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Edelgard demanded. “Does Rhea have fighters like Byleth? How?”

“Ooh, not really up for discussion, little lady. Tell you what, you take me down, I’ll give you an earful, huh?”

Edelgard grimaced. “Fine. Byleth, can you win this?”

Byleth stood, testing the flexibility of her restored limb. “I cannot fall. Not while protecting you, Edelgard.”

“Then bring her to her knees.”

“You lovebirds are just too cute,” Catherine laughed, “I think I’m really gonna enjoy ripping you to shreds. Well, Miss Byleth, floor’s open, Let’s dance.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! And a special thanks to my wonderful patrons BitterPill, Vornelle, and autonomousAscension for helping make this chapter happen!
> 
> I was looking through No One Will Ever Know You, and my reinterpretation of the characters couldn't be much more different than this one, huh? It's been interesting portraying what were, at worst, neutral bystanders in my last fic as terrible villains, but it's been fun too! I hope you all have been having some fun, as well, in spite of all the...well, you've read it!
> 
> If you like my work and would like to support me directly, consider throwing me a dollar or two over on my Patreon at http://www.patreon.com/ghostgirldahlia where you can read these chapters a week early, as well as other fan and original content!
> 
> Thanks again, and see you next time!


	12. Sound and Fury

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Catherine and Byelth duel to the death.

Byleth was the fastest living thing Edelgard had ever seen. She could barely even track her with her eyes, not necessarily because she was so quick she defied sight, but more because Edelgard’s very human brain was not built to expect such a breakneck pace.

This all made it even more shocking that Catherine seemed to be keeping up.

Their fight defied reason. They moved like eagle’s in descent, and when they clashed: the edge of Catherine’s Thunderbrand against Byleth’s long claws, the impact made Edelgard’s teeth rattle and the ground quake.

Catherine flew, cackling like a madwoman as she brought her terrible blade down on Byleth, who caught it in her draconic talons but struggled to keep it from impacting.

“You’re amazing!” The assassin laughed. “A real monster! I never thought I’d get a fight like this!”

They separated before clashing again, this time shattering several of Byleth’s claws as she narrowly angled her body out of the way of the sword. They immediately began to restore themselves, thick blood reforming and solidifying, but Catherine was faster and kept re-engaging before she could fully heal.

Edelgard wanted to help. Her body screamed to jump in, to provide her beloved support, but no matter how deep within herself she sought, she could not find that spark of power. It was near, but whenever she tried to grasp it, to pull it into view, she just saw Flayn, dead and lifeless in a pool of blood. She saw Hubert, his face twisted in disgust and regret. Then, her soul ran cold.

She was helpless, even as her lover was being torn apart.

After another clash, Byleth grunted and, with a flicker, her wings burst from her back and she soared fifty feet up in an instant.

“Ooh,” Catherine whistled, “Nice trick, getting out of my range. Too bad for you I don’t have that kind of limit.” She pointed her sword directly at the flying demon and the blade began to crackle with yellow lightning. “See why they call it the Thunderbrand!”

There was a flash at the tip, and a stream of crackling energy burst forth toward the demoness. Byleth’s eyes went wide and crossed her arms in front of her just before it collided with her and sent her, smoldering, to the ground.

“Byleth!” She dashed to catch her but was still ten feet away when the demon collided with the ground. She was still burning, huge patched of skin seared clean off, and her arms stripped to the bones. She was healing, but the blood moved slowly to replenish the lost flesh, and Byleth seemed to struggle to maintain consciousness.

“Wow!” Catherine shouted as she sauntered toward them. “The last guy I hit with that was nothing but ashes, after. You’re still alive! You must be some kind of new model. Too bad you had to go rogue, eh?”

Edelgard put herself between the demon and the assassin. “You can’t kill her! She has nothing to do with any of this! It’s me you want.”

“Well, you’re half right,” she chuckled, “Either way, the Archbishop will want to look her over. Or, whatever’s left of her, that is.”

“I won’t let you!”

“Hey, fine by me. I’ve got no preference on which one of you dies first.” She raised Thunderbrand, it’s edge still crackling, and brought it down on the Imperial Princess. Edelgard shut her eyes and waited for death.

But death never came.

When she opened her eyes she saw Byleth, stood and whole. The edge of Thunderbrand held against the edge of her forearm, though where before it had cut and rent her flesh, now it held firm, scraping uselessly against her scales.

“I will protect Edelgard.”

With sharp precision she slammed the point of her knee into Catherine’s middle, sending the assassin flying ass over teakettle across the lawn until she was sprawled on her back.

“What the hell,” she grunted as she struggled to her feet. “You’ve got some surprises, don’t you?”

“I remember you,” Byleth said, “Your lightning reminded me. I’ve felt it before.”

“I think I’d remember fighting you before, sweetheart.”

“Not you,” she shook her head and pointed at the blade, “Him. You’ve taken some of it from him, a simulacrum of his power, but I remember the Thunder Giant of Asphodel.”

“I don’t know what you’re babbling about, but I’m gonna shut you up if you don’t mind.”

She sprung forth, sword arcing in a swipe, but Byleth raised a foot and kicked the blade high, leveling a swipe with her talons that cut deep into Catherine’s arm, saved from severing it only by the assassin’s quick dodge.

“I slew the Giant when he was flesh, and blood, and fire,” Byleth said, “You have no chance when you only draw from bones and memory.”

“Shut up!” Catherine shrieked. “With your nonsense! With your babbling and bullshit! Shut up and die!” She thrust the point of her blade forward and sent a torrent of crackling energy at the pair. Edelgard winced, but Byleth didn’t so much as flinch as she put a hand out and caught the blast like a softball where it flickered, and sputtered, and died. “What?” Catherine gasped. “How?”

“You are an echo held in soft flesh, a whisper of power long past held by one never meant to wield it. I shall show you what you once were. What you could’ve been.”

Byleth opened her mouth and bright, crimson light shone behind her fangs.

“No,” Catherine shouted, “No! You can’t, I…I-I-I-”

The light flashed like bloody lightning, then exploded in a torrent of energy, red and rushing like a geyser of blood that hit Catherine and enveloped her fully.

The whole area was washed in red light as the beam collided with the great manor, incinerating what it hit without a moment’s resistance.

Edelgard watched the display, rapt, as though it were a religious experience. Memories, days gone by with family and friends disappeared in the ruins of that house, but that meant nothing next to the grandeur of Byleth’s power. The sheer and utter magnitude of the demon’s ability, more divine than infernal, at least in her eyes.

When the light faded and the beam ended, what was left of the house collapsed in on itself in a heap of jagged wood and steel.

As for Catherine, nothing was left of her but a burnt-matchstick of a corpse, so charred and shriveled it hardly could have been said to have ever been human. Thunderbrand was broken next to her, shattered into splinters save for the orb that had been set into the hilt.

Byleth strode up to the body. She set a foot over the sphere and, with a decisive move, shattered it under her claw. She knelt by the remains and, without decorum, thrust her arm into its chest and retrieved what Edelgard was shocked to see was another orb with markings identical to the one in the sword. Byleth squeezed and crushed it in her hand.

Edelgard approached. “What…what was that? What are those?”

“Soon,” her head cocked at the sound of sirens in the distance. “We need to leave.”

“I…okay. I know a place we can go.”

Byleth nodded, took Edelgard in her arms, and, with a flash of wings, were gone in the night.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Garreg Mach was built on centuries, if not millennia, of history, exemplified by the extensive, labyrinthine expanse of catacombs that plunged deep into the mountain upon which the monastery sat. While full knowledge of these structures had long died out the modern Church had made efforts to remap and reclaim them to their purposes, and the solid, subterranean passages and chambers were the perfect foundation for a prison.

Not everyone the Church deemed an enemy was killed or reeducated. The truly dangerous found themselves secreted away with no evidence or warning and shut quietly beneath the earth. It was here that Alois, the secret prison’s secret warden, was leading Seteth through stone halls lit dimly with yellow bulbs, past a seemingly endless row of steel doors.

“We thought it best,” Alois explained, “To store him down here until you arrived. No sense in having him scamper off when he gets a second thought.”

“Good thinking. What did he say?”

“Something along the lines of our goals being the same. Apparently, he wants to share information with us. Of course, we already know the princess is involved, so I’m not sure what more he could offer.”

“Never doubt the power of information, Alois. It can be sharper than the finest blade.”

“More of an axe man, myself. But I see your point. It’s this one.” They stopped in front of a completely unremarkable metal door and Alois unlocked it. “Take your time, I’ll wait for you out here.”

Seteth nodded and pushed through the door. Inside was a dismally dim room with a sink, a toilet, and a cot upon which sat a tall young man. His hair and clothes were somewhat disheveled, and the scrapes and bruises along his face told Seteth the guards who brought him here were far less than careful.

“Hubert von Vestra. It’s been a while.”

“Seteth.”

“So, I’m told you have something for me. Does it regard the location of Edelgard von Hresvelg? Or the abilities of her team?”

Hubert flinched at the mention of her name. “So you’ve come that far.”

“We’ve learned a lot. In fact, I’d be surprised if a team wasn’t already en route to the Hresvelg manor to finish this once and for all.”

The nobleman smirked. “If you sent men, they’re already dead. The…creature in her employ is far beyond the capability of any of your forces.”

“Creature? Are you implying everything she’s done so far has been the actions of one assassin?”

He shook his head. “Three. Edelgard was the mastermind, I was the hacker, and…and she was the assassin. Byleth. Edelgard introduced her to you as ‘Bella.’”

Seteth smiled. “I knew it. What is she? Dagdan intelligence? An Almyran mercenary?”

“She is beyond anything you know, Cardinal. And without my intelligence, you may never take her down. You’ll watch, paralyzed, while she tears down this whole Church, brick by brick. But I’ll help you stop it. But I have conditions.”

“Conditions?” Seteth laughed, an empty sound, before rounding on Hubert and smashing his fist against the younger man’s angular cheekbones. Hubert was sent, sprawling, to the ground and Seteth slammed a foot down on his chest, pinning the gasping man in place. “Tonight, your mistress killed my daughter. My daughter! Flayn is dead because of that monster, and one way or another I will rend her soul from this earth. Now, you can either rot down here while I do it, or you can help me serve justice.”

“T-take her alive!” Hubert choked. “That’s it! Give me a chance to save her!”

“Save her?”

“That woman, that thing, Byleth, she’s influencing Edelgard! Making her do these…these terrible things. She’s the one responsible!”

“If you’re lying to me I will tear your heart out, Hubert Vestra!”

“It’s not a lie! I promise, kill Byleth and you’ll have your justice! And I’m the only one who can help you do it!”

“Fine!” He lifted his foot, letting Hubert take a grateful breath in. “Fine, but one breath of treachery and I will burn you down, just like the Hresvelg’s. And this time I won’t leave a survivor.”

Hubert was still coughing and gasping when Seteth strode out and slammed the door behind him where Alois snapped to attention from a quiet conversation he was having with a Church guard.

“Seteth! Good news?”

“He has something. He may be useful, but let’s let him marinate in that box a bit longer before we talk to him. Was there news? Did we get them?”

“Um, no, no, the whole manor was destroyed, but they managed to escape.”

“Blasted monsters.”

“And Thunderbrand Catherine was killed as well. At least, we believe as much.”

“Catherine? That should be impossible after…I see. Prepare an interrogation room. We may need Lord Vestra’s testimony sooner, rather than later.”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Enbarr offered much in the way of architecture and history for those interested in observing it, but the sheer quantity meant that most individual works tended to fade into the expansive skyline.

Five hundred years ago the Hresvelg family, upon the declaration of peace with the then newly established Kingdom of Faerghus, ordered the construction of a grand clocktower on the edge of the city that faced their neighbor. It was a grand construction, and the completion of this great Armistice Tower was celebrated all through the Empire.

But, as time went on, the city grew. The edge gave way and became an unremarkable spot in a remarkable capitol, and other much more grand constructions came along to overshadow the impressive clock. Now it was a minor, local sight that was more useful as a timepiece than a tourist trap. And also, for Edelgard von Hresvelg, a perfect place for a safe house.

She opened the trapdoor to the belfry, coughing away a flurry of offset dust, before pulling herself up with Byleth in tow.

Byleth came in and looked around. It was a loft space with wood floors and stone walls. Soft moonlight poured through one of the stained glass decorations, illuminating a comfortable if dated living space with three queen-sized beds, a handful of trunks, and a small kitchenette next to a stack of crates with Adrestian military logos printed on them.

“Not bad, as far as safehouses go,” Edelgard commented, “My grandfather set it up when tensions were rising with the Alliance as a place for his family to hide out in the event of an invasion. It hasn’t been tended since my father died, but all the rations should still be good to eat, and no one without the name Hresvelg knows anything about it. Except you, now.”

“Not even Hubert?”

“No, but I don’t think he would reveal it if he did. He had a list of his own safehouses for us in case of emergency,” she explained as she patted layers of dust off of one of the duvets. “So he’d likely assume we would use those.”

Byleth nodded and approached the other side of the bed, mimicking Edelgard’s actions.

“You seem like you’re waiting for something.”

“Um, I wanted to talk about the fight at the manor, but if you’d rather rest, we-”

“I am not tired. Please, talk.

“Oh! Um, well…you were amazing! I had no idea you could do things like that.”

“Neither did I, before.”

“About that, you talked about Hell, with things you never mentioned. The…Thunder Giant of Asphodel? Did you get more memories back?”

She nodded. “Yes, but not…I remember fighting the giant. The battle, the feel of his thunder. The assassin's attack brought it all back, but not much more.”

“So, how did she get that power? And what were those orbs?”

Byleth shook her head. “I’m not sure. They contained the power of the giant, the great demon. Something about them is familiar, but,” she rubbed her temples, “I can’t remember how…”

Edelgard circled the bed and stroked the demoness’s shoulders. “Hey, it’s okay. You’ve done a lot tonight, the rest can wait.”

“And you? Have you reached your flame?”

“I…no. It’s close I can…I can feel the heat, but…”

“Your heart is still conflicted. You’re in flux.”

“Will I…burn away?”

She shook her head. “No, not unless you stray further. But you must make peace with your mission, and the damage that may be done in its pursuit. If not, each fresh step will take you closer to oblivion.”

She nodded. “I understand.”

Byleth smiled. “But, as you said, we have done enough tonight. You need rest.”

“I will. But maybe first we can do something else,” she put her arms around Byleth and brought their lips close, “And I promise, I’m not conflicted at all about this.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! And a special thanks to my wonderful patrons BitterPill, Vornelle, Zakky D, and autonomousAscension for helping make this chapter happen!
> 
> Sorry for the delay! In between health stuff and life, the update cycle might slow down a little in the near future, but I'm nowhere near done with this story so please stay tuned!
> 
> If you like my work and would like to help support me directly, consider throwing me a dollar or two over on my Patreon at http://www.patreon.com/ghostgirldahlia where you can read these chapters a week early, as well as other fan and original content!


	13. The Calm Before

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Edelgard and Byleth enjoy a few moments of peace. Seteth prepares to give up everything.

Time passed slowly in the clocktower. It had been constructed long before things like cable television or fiber-optic broadband were necessities for daily life, so there was little for the women to do in their waking hours save from peruse the ancient bookshelves of dated books or attempt to coax life out of the little antenna reception TV.

Well, there were other things Byleth and Edelgard did to pass the time, but, for Edelgard at least, the body could not much the spirit’s vigor and occasionally she needed time to recuperate and plan for their next moves.

“According to the list,” Edelgard recounted to Byleth while they lounged beneath the sheets, “We only have two Cardinals left, Alois and Seteth.”

“Will the dead ones not be replaced?” Byleth asked.

“No, at least not yet. Cardinals have to be comprehensively tested and vetted before they’re brought all the way into the fold. Historically it can take years to replace just one Cardinal, and that’s with all the others submitting input. With ten dead, they won’t be able to refill their ranks anytime soon.”

“So then our next move must be to finish the ranks, eliminate Seteth and this Alois.”

“That’s the problem: Seteth is a public figure, so we just need to wait for the right time, but Alois manages the secret prison.”

“Secret prison?”

“My uncle long theorized it existed before the Church took Adrestia, a secret place where those too dangerous to kill were held indefinitely. After joining the Church he warned me, many times, to watch myself or I’d end up there myself.”

“They could not take you with an army.”

Edelgard smiled. “Not with you by my side. But the real problem is that we don’t know where the prison is. Well…”

“What?”

“We know it’s beneath the monastery, the legendary temple Garreg Mach, but its location is more jealously guarded than the Cardinals were.”

“Even if we knew, it would be foolish, as we are, to attack up front.”

“No, we’d need to be stealthy, at least at first. But that requires intel, layouts, guard rotations…”

“So we have no path forward?”

She shrugged. “Maybe, maybe not. Hubert and I were working on tracking down the Monastery’s location, it’s supposedly on one to the Oghma peaks between the three nations, but there’re dozens of those and we hadn’t come to a conclusion before he…well…”

“Betrayed you. Speak it plain and do not forget his injustices.”

“You’re right I should be angry with him, but the whole situation just makes me…I don’t know, sad? He was like a brother to me, the last person who I could think to call that.”

Byleth stroked her cheek. “I know, but you must harden your heart to malaise or you may drown in it. Let the heat of your anger harden your spirit into something that will not break when the time comes to act.”

“You make it sound easy.”

“It’s all a demon knows, to be singular in purpose and drive.”

“So you don’t feel doubt or indecision?”

“We feel these things, but they have little bearing on how we feel and live.”

“Then…do you feel sadness? Grief? Pain?”

“That…yes, we do. Grief touches us…most of all. You become…sentimental as the millennia go on. Some are broken by it, twisted into something else.”

“Like I was.”

“No.” Byleth sat up and straddled the young woman’s middle and leaned over her face, her dark blue hair cascaded down like a waterfall, framing Edelgard’s face at it swayed gently back and forth. “The demons who lose themselves to tragedy become shadows, a dread pastiche of what they once stood for. They lose everything, eventually even the will to move. They fade away, monuments to their own pain. Your grief did not break you. It awoke your passion and rage and drove you to change into something new and ferocious.”

“Then why,” tears edge at the corners of Edelgard’s eyes, “Why do I feel so torn? I can’t…I can’t help but wonder, now, whether I’ve done the right thing through all this.”

“Your change is not complete, Edelgard. You are still becoming what you shall be.”

“Oh.” She laughed.

“What is it?”

“Nothing, just…you over me like this. Just a short time ago being in this position with you would probably have given me a heart attack. Now, look at me, having a deep conversation while the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen sits on my like a pommel horse.”

Byleth smiled. “You have changed much.” She leaned down and traced a line of delicate kisses down the princess’s neck. “I enjoy the new you.”

Edelgard chuckled. “I think I do as well. Byleth?”

“Hmm?”

“Have you ever grieved for someone?”

“I don’t know, I can’t remember.”

“I know but the way you talk…it sounds like you’ve lost someone, too.”

“Hmm.”

“I don’t mean to make you dwell on it, I know your past is still a…difficult subject.”

“No, no, it’s…I can’t remember anyone, let alone one I might have lost but…since I arrived here I had felt…lonely. As though I was used to being…around others. That I was seldom alone. You have helped me, but those people, whoever they were, are gone from me now. I think I mourn them, in a way.”

“Oh, darling, I’m glad I can be here for you, that you don’t have to feel alone.”

“And I for you, Edelgard. With you my soul is warm, my heart is full, and I need not grieve. I love you, and I will always ensure that no force in Hell or Earth shall ever part us.”

“I love you, too, my sweet Byleth. You have made these dark days all the brighter. You are my sun, and we will see this story end, together.”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rhea looked over the courtyard of Garreg Mach from the high, decorated window of her chambers. Beneath soldiers and priests darted back and forth like ants whose line had been disturbed. It had been like this for many days now, though she could hardly be bothered to say how long.

How long had her priestesses been weeping? The bishops crying of disaster and heresy? How many times had the guard captains scrambled their men, as though the mere exercise would prepare them for the unknown future?

To tell the truth she hardly minded the chaos, at least it was interesting. A break from the endless monotony behind these walls of stone, and steel, and secrets. She’d been here so long, in a way a crisis was precisely what she needed, she supposed.

She sighed. There was an audience to attend, and she could hardly do so in her robe and slippers.

She donned her holy vestments, layers of white and gold topped with heavy jewelry and an elaborate headpiece. Her complexion needed no adjusting, it was flawless, her skin pale and smooth and without even the slightest blemish.

She took the hidden stairs down, emerging to the side of the grand hall where she met her guests and dignitaries, hardly surprised to find Seteth already there. He was sat on a low bench, his face in his hands. His hair was frayed and matted, his clothes rumpled and stained.

“Seteth, the days have been cruel to you.”

He looked up with a start. “L-Lady Rhea, I-I-I’m sorry, I didn’t-”

“Put your mind at ease, my dear Seteth. It is to be expected of one who has endured all you have.”

“Lady Rhea,” he rubbed the corners of his eyes, “I…thank you. You’ve always been a friend to our family. Flayn was always…always fond of you, more than as her Archbishop. After her mother died, she saw you as family.”

“And I was fond of Flayn, the dear girl. She is content now, I know, surely as close to the Goddess as one could ever hope to be. Now Seteth, the hours grows, what do you ask of me?”

Seteth sighed. “Yes, yes…I have spoken to the Vestra boy.”

“Can he be trusted?”

He shook his head. “No, but he is earnest in his path to save Edelgard. I trust that we can use that to our ends. And his intel may serve us very well.”

“And what has he told you?”

“The Hresvelg’s assassin…she is a demon. A creature of Hell summoned to do the cursed woman’s bidding.”

“And he’s sure?”

“Yes. A servant of a greater devil of some sort. He said its powers defy reason, and it is how the princess has evaded us, and how she was even able to kill Thunderbrand Catherine.”

“So,” Rhea muttered, “They have found their way to me…”

“My lady?”

“This demon and her mistress must be eliminated. It is the will of the Goddess and our greatest task as her faithful to strike this infernal scourge from her world.”

“Of course, Lady Rhea, I had no doubts, but…”

“What?”

“Catherine’s failure…clearly this beast is beyond even our extraordinary means. We need more.”

“I am more than willing to dispatch one of my personal sects to join you, though I have a feeling you speak of more than that?”

He nodded. “Your acolytes will do us well, but I know there is more about them that you have kept hidden from us.”

She cocked an eyebrow. “Oh? Tell me what you believe to know?”

“The experiments, those stones, there was something you were holding back from us. But I’ve seen the sealed reports, the carnage of those incidents far exceeds what the last few decades of research into the crest stones indicate should be possible.”

Rhea shook her head. “What you ask of is dangerous, Seteth, even for a man as devout as you. There is a reason we shifted ”

“It doesn’t matter. This creature, this threat, no cost is too high to see it eliminated. To reduce her to ash and salt the earth beneath.”

“I weep for my Cardinals, Seteth, you know that. They are each as children to me, so I know how your heart breaks for darling Flayn. But still, Seteth, to unleash this power, unrestrained…there will be no path back. You shall lose yourself to it.”

“It doesn’t matter, Rhea. Flayn is…was all I have. Even the love of the Goddess does not pierce this veil of misery. I do not care what happens to me, what I become. I must see this through, and should I lose my life all the better that I may be united with Flayn all the sooner.”

Rhea smiled. “Seteth, my dear, dear Seteth. You have always been my most faithful and fervent follower. I can think of no better end to your story than in service to the Goddess. Come, we shall make preparations for what comes next.”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“We’re here, my lord.”

The driver’s words roused Hubert from his slumber in the back of the town car. Blinking the blur out of his eyes he, indeed, saw the facade of his family’s dark manor at the end of the drive. He nodded and, with some difficulty, heaved himself up and out of the vehicle, trudging his way up the path until he reached the high doors.

He instinctively went for his pocket but remembered his keys, along with his cell-phone, and everything else he’d had with him were sealed in an evidence locker high in the Oghma Mountains. He sighed and rang the bell.

After a few moments, the door opened to the sunny visage of his maid, Lana, whose eyes shot wide in surprise as she saw him.

“Master Hubert! Oh, goodness, c-c-come in. I apologize, sir, you left without a word and I didn’t know when you were to return and-”

“It’s alright, Lana,” he rubbed the bridge of his nose, “It’s fine, I was on a…trip. Official business.”

“Of course, sir. Can I, uh, get you anything?”

“No, no, just peace and quiet while I retire. I won’t be taking dinner, tonight, I’d rather just sleep.”

“Oh, um, you actually have a guest, sir.”

“A guest?”

“Yes, I told him you hadn’t said when you’d be back, but he insisted on waiting until you returned. He’s in the lounge.”

“Of course. I’ll see to him. Can you prepare some tea?”

The maid nodded and curtsied before scurrying off.

Down the left hall, Hubert found the mahogany, double-doors to the study. He gripped the handle, let out a deep sigh, and opened the door.

“Well there you are,” a flash of orange hair preceded the haughty tone of Hubert’s guest as he leaped from the sofa he’d been lounging on and made to confront his host, “What do you call this? Not answering my calls, telling no one you were leaving town, Hubert you…by the Goddess, you look terrible. What happened to you?”

Hubert sighed. He couldn’t deny that. What little he had seen of himself since departing the monastery had not been a good sight. Deep, dark bags circled his eyes, his high, sharp cheeks were gaunt, and while his skin was normally quite pale, it had taken a distinct, sickly pallor that reflected how he felt.

He was only grateful that his clothes hid most of the bruises.

“I had a…trying expedition, Ferdinand. Is there something I can do for you?”

“Hubert, you’re not just tired, you look…is this her fault? What has Edelgard made you do?”

“I…nothing. I haven’t seen her in weeks, Ferdinand.”

“You can lie to your father, but not me, Hubert. I know you never swore off her company like he made you promise.”

“It’s not a lie, this time. Edelgard and I have…parted company. A difference of opinion.”

“Oh, well, that’s good, I suppose. But what happened to you?”

“Nothing, I…please, let it go, Ferdinand.”

The red-head stepped forward and brushed his fingertips over Hubert’s emaciated face. “How can I? You look like a prisoner of war, Hubert.”

Hubert stepped back out of the shorter man’s embrace. “You care, now?”

“I always did, Hubert. I left because I couldn’t watch you throw your life away for her. It hurts me to see you suffer.”

“Yes, well…you’ve made that clear enough, and I won’t subject you to it anymore. I give you permission to forget the state of me and exit my life once again.”

“It doesn’t serve you well to be petty, Hubert. I’ve only ever looked out for your well-being, all while that woman would have you made an enemy of the state in pursuit of her ambitions.”

“Or did you resent that I loved her? You could never accept how important Edelgard is to me.”

Anger flashed across Ferdinand’s face. “No, you fool, I could never accept how you pined from her in spite of everything she’s done to you! And beyond that you know damn well that she’s a lesbian, Hubert, and still you content yourself throwing yourself against that wall over and over again! What I resented was that Edelgard did no wrong in your eyes, and even her utter disinterest in everything down to you gender was not reason enough for you to move on!”

“Well, you have your wish! She’s finally crossed the line and I’ve purged her from my life, just like you always wanted! I finally, finally, allowed the one person who I’ve loved all my life to break my heart one last time! How does that sound, Ferdinand von Aegir? Are you happy now?”

As the last of Hubert’s tirade left his mouth he was suddenly possessed by a wave of fatigue all over his body and lurched forward when it took all the life from his legs. Ferdinand lunged at him and managed to grab him before he collapsed.

“Hubert, we can deal with this later. We need to get you in bed, now.”

“Ugh, fine.”

With his arm over Ferdinand’s shoulders, the two men made their way upstairs toward Hubert’s bedroom, a route Ferdinand knew all too well. As they neared, they passed by another high, dark wood door when Hubert bid the red-head to stop.

“Hold on. Take me in here for a moment.”

“Your study? Hubert, you need to rest.”

“Just for a moment, I have a…I need to check something.”

Ferdinand sighed and opened the door. Hubert’s study was a modest room surrounded by sleek, glass shelving units piles with heavy books and journals. Against the window was a wide desk with four computer monitors, all dark at the moment, under which were two locked filing cabinets.

Except the cabinets weren’t locked. They were open, the contents still in the drawers but in disarray. When they approached the desk, Hubert tapped the mouse, causing the monitors to come to life. The center one displayed a login screen with Hubert’s name over a red notification declaring the system locked after too many incorrect password attempts.

“What happened?” Ferdinand asked.

“Someone was here. The locks on the cabinets were forced. Is the window locked?”

Ferdinand peered over the desk. “It doesn’t look like it. But do you really think someone would climb all the way up here just to rifle through your files?”

“If they even needed to climb,” he pondered, “Go find Lana, I need to make a call.”

“Hubert…”

“I’ll rest after. But I think I know what our intruders were after, and I need to let them know.”

“Who?”

“It’s better you don’t know, Ferdinand. Don’t look at me like that, sometimes I make choices to protect you, too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for reading! And a special thanks to my wonderful patrons BitterPill, Vornelle, Zakky D, and autonomousAscension for helping make this chapter happen!
> 
> If you like my work and would like to help support me directly, consider throwing me a dollar or two over on my Patreon at http://www.patreon.com/ghostgirldahlia where you can read chapters a week early, as well as my other fan works and original content!


	14. Crimson Flower

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Edelgard faces the truth. Seteth prepares for the end.

“The Oghma Mountains are the largest range in Fodlan,” Edelgard explained while they poured over the large map of the continent, the amber glow of the twilight sun lighting their work through the occluded glass of the great clock face that made up one wall of their temporary home, “And while we know the monastery is on one of the peaks, which, exactly, is a well-kept secret.”

“It’s a good plan,” Byleth noted, “Mountains are difficult to assault, and without knowing which you need to attack it means there’s no way to know if you’re wasting your entire army.”

Edelgard nodded. “Satellites aren’t allowed to take photos of it and air travel is heavily restricted within a hundred miles of the range. But we aren’t an army. We fly in, clock where the monastery is, and make our attack. Hubert’s notes predict it’s likely on the fourth or seventh peak, so we’ll just have to check both.”

“Are there any defenses we need to worry about?”

“Anti-air weaponry and attack planes. Uh, think big, metal birds with guns. But so long as we’re flying as fast as you can, that should make sure they’re not an issue.”

Byleth shook her head. “We can’t.”

“What? Why not?”

“You wouldn’t survive. The speed would kill you as you are now.”

“What, then…that can’t be right, we’ve flown together plenty of times before.”

She shrugged. “I limit myself. Ensure I stay within your limitations. They were increasing, for a time, but now…”

“I’ve…lost my spark. My flame went out.”

“Without control of that power there’s no way to deliver you-,” she turned her head toward the great clock face, “Do you hear that?”

“What?”

“A sound like…whirring…”

Byleth’s eyes went wide. In an instant, her claws were drawn and wings unfolded to encircle Edelgard just before a hail of bullets burst through the glass and four, black-clad figures followed, rolling to the ground with small automatics in one hand and short, curved swords in the other.

“Kill them!” Edelgard screamed.

Byleth, talons drawn, leaped at the assassins, but they sprung away with inhuman speed. She lashed at one, but when her back was turned, another shot forward and slashed her back, drawing a deep line of crimson. Byleth howled and roared, but by the time she turned to retaliate that attacker was gone and another had darted in and hit her along the thigh.

She spun again, her eyes black through the sclera and her teeth at points, ready to kill, but as she attacked another came at her back, unfurling a long, silver cord that they looped around her neck.

Byleth screamed as the metal burned and sizzled the flesh of her neck, and before she could recover two of them ran forward and grabbed her clawed arms, forcing them up and back in a painful arm lock while the fourth pounced on her back, forcing her to her knees.

“Byleth!”

“Don’t move!”

Edelgard rounded on two more black-clad figured who burst through the front door to the hideout leveling rifles at her.

“You bastards,” she hissed, “I’ll have you torn to shreds!”

“And how,” a deep voice resounded from beyond the door, “Will you do that with your pet monster restrained?”

Edelgard’s blood ran ice cold as the tall, gaunt figure hobbled into view.

Hubert was thinner than she had last seen, and the bags under his eyes much deeper and darker than normal. He heavily favored a mahogany cane and seemed to still move with some difficulty.

“No,” she gasped, “Hubert…no…”

“They’re impressive, aren’t they? The culmination of Lady Rhea’s experiments with arcane objects called crest stones. Each as strong as Thunderbrand Catherine, and absolutely loyal to the Archbishop or anyone she tells them to follow. To tell the truth, I wasn’t sure they’d be up to the job, but it seems even your demon can’t stand to the full weight of the Church.”

“Pretenders,” Byleth growled, “Weaklings and impostors.”

“Hubert…after everything…you would betray me? You would turn me over to the Church?”

He shook his head. “Edelgard, you must see this isn’t a betrayal, it’s a rescue mission! You must see how you’ve changed and been corrupted by this vile creature. The Church is not…they are the lesser evil here, El, you must see that.”

Hot tears stung at her eyes, though she’d never felt rage like this before. “Don’t you dare call me that. You don’t deserve to call me that!”

“I know you must be angry, but, please, see reason! If you turn yourself over, they’ll go easy on you! Reeducation isn’t fun, Edelgard, but it beats a firing squad. Please, this isn’t you. You’re not a weapon, not a cleansing fire, you’re just a sad, angry girl who lost too much to bear. Let me help you.”

Edelgard turned to look at Byleth, still restrained by the super-soldiers.

“Edelgard,” she wheezed, “You are more than this. More than this traitor. You are a…a crimson flower, blooming amongst weeds. You…are…flame!”

She looked at the ground and opened her mouth, orange flame glowing from deep within her throat till it burst, shattering the floor beneath and casting Byleth and her captors into the darkness below.

“You see how she fights against the inevitable!” Hubert yelled. “You don’t have to fall with her! Surrender and help us take the creature in as well, and I have the Archbishop’s personal assurance that they’ll show you mercy. You can still get out of this alive, Edelgard.”

Edelgard faced him. The ice had run from her veins, replaced with a delicious, scalding heat.

“Mercy?” She growled. “The same mercy they showed my little brother and sister when they burned them in their beds? The same mercy they showed our friends they marched to the noose as the cost of their patriotism?”

“Edelgard.”

She took a step. “No, I will have none of their mercy, Hubert. None of their pity or forgiveness. Give me, instead, their pain. Their bloodshed. Their death. Visit upon on iota of the horrors they’ve inflicted on the people of my Empire, and I will accept that.” She took another step. The soldiers brought their guns to attention and she looked at them, her head cocked. “Are you afraid of me? Of the snow-white princess who watched her castle burn around her? Of beautiful Edelgard, the lonely lady of the fallen throne? Do I scare you so much? Let me give you something to be afraid of.”

She took another step forward and the muzzle of the left guard’s gun flashed and Edelgard’s head snapped back. Hubert grabbed the top of the gun and pushed it down.

“What are you doing?!” He demanded. “I told you not to shoot her!”

“Oh, Hubert,” the princess’s voice carried out, “Even now, still looking out for me.” She brought her head back forward. A hole marked the center of her pale forehead, knitting itself back together like an automatic loom. She grinned, the tips of her white teeth at a slight, sharp point. “What will I ever do without you?”

Like an arrow from a bow, she jumped at them, her teeth cutting like razors at the left gunman’s throat. She was drenched in blood by the time the other pushed Hubert aside and aimed their weapon, she was on him, too, tearing him apart in pieces like a paper doll.

Hubert was terrified, backing hurriedly toward the door by pure reflex as his body bid him leave as quickly as he could. Even when he fell onto his rear, the cane clattering away, still he struggled to escape. When Edelgard rose again, she was covered in red from her chin to her feet, her irises having shifted crimson to match.

“Hubie?” She crowed. “Whatever could be wrong? Don’t enjoy seeing me like this, stained with blood? Oh, I know what you like. I can certainly try to play the innocent noble girl if that’s more your preference?”

“You…you’re…”

“I’m what? A monster? A demon? Have I disappointed you?”

“Why, Edelgard? Why?”

“Because I have felt the mercy of the Goddess and found myself wanting! Because I have loved and lost more than I can bear! Because I will gladly march into hell fire if it means rending the Church of Seiros from these lands and casting its architects into a sea of blood!”

He barely withheld a retch. “You…you’ll never do it without her! No matter what you’ve become, this is over!”

As if to answer him the sound of large wings buffeting air brought Byleth back through the hole in the clocktower floor. She was worse for wear, missing part of an arm and most of a leg, while the skin had been burned from much of her left side, though her damaged flesh was already piecing itself back together.

“Impossible,” Hubert breathed, “The acolytes…”

“Pretenders,” she repeated, “Weaklings and impostors.” She held up a stone orb carved with an arcane sigil that crumbled in her hand. “All dead now. To the same place as traitors.”

“No,” Edelgard commanded. “Let him go.”

“Are you sure? He’s betrayed you once.”

“There’s nothing left he can do. Besides, crueler to let him live. Let him remember his treachery so his guilt rends him apart.”

Byleth smiled as she touched down next to her love. “Then so it shall be.”

“We should go. This ends tonight.”

Byleth nodded and took Edelgard in her arms. They rose together on the demon’s draconic wings, peering into each other’s eyes, crimson into blue. There were no words as Hubert watched them soar out through the broken clock face, into the setting sun, and away.

Far, far away.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Seteth came to through a haze of drugs and pain. His chest ached like he had never felt before, though he felt…strange. Wired and energetic somehow. A strong, slender hand pushed him back down to the table.

“Please, Seteth, stay still. We need to wait to see how your body responds to the stone.”

“Lady…Lady Rhea?” He wheezed. “I…the procedure is done?”

“See for yourself.”

He felt a hand under his head that lifted it up so that he could see his chest and the huge laceration that had been stitched up across his ribs.

“How…how will we know if it worked? If it will bond?”

“We should know before long,” she assured him.

“You’ve never told me, but…what causes these to accept or reject a host? What’s the factor?”

“If you’re hoping to raise your odds, I’m afraid it’s far too late. But, to sate your curiosity, it’s a topic of some debate. Aelfric believed it was a matter of will and tenacity. That’s why he chose to experiment on orphans. He thought their trials and suffering made them perfectly suited to host the stones, though there was never any consistency in that theory. One of your predecessors, on the other hand, believed it was a matter of bodily control. Yes, Solaf only allowed the most skilled and accomplished of our knights to be implanted, as much good as it did. He was always far too focused on achievement, it blinded him to people’s true natures.”

“Solaf,” he gasped, “He was…he served the Church almost two hundred years ago, you speak as though you knew him?”

She smiled. “Dear, sweet Seteth, you should know better than to judge by appearances. Not long know, dear. Ah, there we are. Watch.”

Before his eyes the rough scar began to disappear and the stitches came loose to sit, idly against his chest. In moments, the wound was a memory and his pain had all but vanished.

“Did…did it work.”

“Congratulations, Seteth, the stone has bonded. You’re ready.”

He sat up on the metal table. “What now? How do I use it?”

“Simply seek its power and it shall deliver. This type of stone is volatile, it’s fury begs to be unleashed. In fact, if you wait too long it will unleash itself.”

“That’s what happened to the test subjects. The destruction.”

She nodded. “This power was not meant for humans. It will break forth from mortal form and seek to satiate baser needs. But that won’t be an issue, for you. Even now our enemies are en route, ready for you to meet them and exact your righteous vengeance, here on the mountaintop.”

“Of course, my lady. I shall do so at once.” He hopped off the tables and stepped toward the doorway, but he stopped at the threshold. “Lady Rhea?”

“Yes?”

“What was it that bonds the stones to the right subjects? Was it willpower? Strength?”

“Blood.” She said, matter-of-fact. “Nothing more, and nothing less. It all comes down to blood.”

A question rose to Seteth’s lips, but he swallowed it down along with the torrent of thoughts that plagued him about his beloved Lady Rhea.

He worked all his life for her and the Church. All his life, giving everything he had to give, and even now she still had kept more secrets from him than she had shared truths.

Maybe, once, he would’ve asked. He would’ve sought to understand. He might have even wondered if he had allied himself with the right person.

Once.

There was nothing left, now, but loss and vengeance. Pain and blood. Battle and death.

Seteth marched off to war.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for reading! And a special thanks to my wonderful patrons BitterPill, Vornelle, Zakky D, and autonomousAscension for helping make this chapter happen!
> 
> Hope you enjoy! Slightly shorter chapter than normal, these actions end up really dense the way I write them. We're headed to the endgame now, with some big answers and bigger battles in the next few chapters, so please stay tuned! 
> 
> If you like my work and would like to help support me directly, consider becoming one of my Patreon supporters at http://www.patreon.com/ghostgirldahlia where you can read chapters a week early as well as exclusive original works that I don't post anywhere else! Even a dollar a month means a whole lot to me, so I hope you check it out!


	15. The War of Gods and Devils

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Forces confront one another atop the mountain. A journey comes to an end.

Black wings blended seamlessly against the night sky, a single, moving shape of starless curtain flying over Fodlan at incredible speed. Edelgard felt more at home in Byleth’s arms watching the darkened country pass below than she had in any house she’d ever lived in. The air was cold as it whipped over her, but all she cared about was the great warmth from the demon’s skin that warmed her all over.

Pretense shattered, Byleth had remained in her demonic form, blue-black scales glinting gently in the starlight, fangs gleaming when she’d open her mouth to take a breath. Her eyes were the most striking, cobalt having, at some point, shifted to a pale, emerald green bisected by slitted pupils. This same shape that had made Edelgard so scared and nervous just a few months ago now filled with a bottomless love and desire that tickled at her center, even despite the grave task rushing toward them, fueled by the raging flame that burned in her soul.

“Edelgard,” she breathed, “There.”

Edelgard cast her gaze to the fourth peak of the Oghma range, atop which, surrounded by dense trees, was a grand stone cathedral lit by raging braziers filled by towering bonfires that cast disks of amber light around the perimeter.

“This is it,” Edelgard grinned, “Garreg Mach. The end of our journey, we-”

She was interrupted by a sound like thunder as a ball of blazing light few at them at sonic speed. Byleth quickly wrapped herself around Edelgard and turned her back to the projectile. Edelgard felt her lover shatter as they plummeted out of the sky into the trees below.

They crashed to the earth and Edelgard rolled free of Byleth’s clutches. The demon pushed herself up, the skin and flesh of her back shattered and smoldering, though already knitting themselves back together.

“Anti-air weapons,” Edelgard shook her head, “They shouldn’t be able to track us at those speeds.”

“Clearly they were prepared.”

“We’ll just need to make it the rest of the way on foot, dealing with the ground troops as we go. Are you well enough to move?”

Byleth nodded. As she stood the last of her skin had repaired itself. Her clothes were barely tatters, now, but the black scales stretched further down her shoulders and up her hips.

Edelgard smiled and, without warning, sprang into the forest. Byleth’s eyebrows raised at the speed of the princess, but she quickly joined her at a pace as the pair of them darted between trees and over rocks with reckless abandon.

Edelgard’s whole body screamed with joy. She had never felt anything as exuberant and pleasurable as the vigor that coursed through her like magma. If this was how demons felt all the time, hell must be a much better place than she had assumed.

Shapes moved against the darkness ahead of them as black-clad figures rushed forward, one with a long, double-edged blade, the other with a colossal, two-sided battle axe raised. Their speed alone told Edelgard these were more than normal humans, and when she narrowly dodge the blade of the axe it cleaved into the earth like a hot iron into butter.

Byleth took the swing of her opponent's blade against the scaled of her arm where it shattered like glass, riposting with a sharp swipe of claws that severed the acolyte’s left arm, though they hardly seemed affected by the pain.

Edelgard had her own problems, however, and had to jump into a tree to avoid another axe strike.

Her enhanced power made her formidable, but her new opponent was nearly as capable, and armed to boot, but Edelgard had taken the high ground. She shot down at the acolyte who raised the haft of the axe in defense, but Edelgard just grabbed it with both hands, planted her feet, and flipped the acolyte like a pancake, colliding them with dense soil so hard the nearby trees shook.

At the last moment, the acolyte’s grip failed on the axe, and Edelgard wrenched it free. They’d hardly had time to recover when the Imperial princess brought the long, silver edge down on their middle, not stopping until she felt bone give way to dirt, and her assailant was still.

She looked to Byleth, who’d ripped her opponent in half by sheer force, and was now grinning, sharp-toothed, at Edelgard’s display.

“It suits you,” she nodded.

Edelgard hefted the axe. She knew it must have weighed a hundred pounds, but it felt light and agile in her hands. “I think I’ll hold onto it. I think we have more company ahead.”

Byleth nodded, and they headed forward together.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Through the trees, they came upon a low, grassy valley overlooked by the high cathedral on the peak just above. An army waited for them, a line of black-clad acolytes, fifty wide, backed by a garrison of Church soldiers, clad in red with rifles at their shoulders.

Before them all stood Seteth.

His clean, orderly appearance had been unfathomably changed since Edelgard had last seen him. His neat beard uneven and scraggly, his hair disheveled, and his normally immaculate robes open and wrinkled revealing bare chest. He was sweating, too, and seemed to be strained in his movements.

“You’ve made it,” he grunted, “Finally, this twisted tale can end and we may finally rest.”

“Seteth,” Edelgard shook her head, “After everything, still trying to save everyone?”

“Save? Who is left to save, Edelgard von Hresvelg? You have taken my one joy, my light away from me. The world is dark and I will see the taint on this land cleansed in fire before I leave it, if only to satisfy my own rage.”

Edelgard laughed. “You think I still care about you and your stupid little grudge against me? You are nothing, Cardinal! A tiny wheel in a failing machine. Move aside.”

“A tiny wheel? A little grudge? You’d say that to the man who ordered your family’s death?”

“Y-you? It was you?”

He cackled, grabbing at his chest as though the effort pained him. “It was only meant to be your father, you know! That’s all the other cardinals thought was necessary, just remove the head and let the Empire dwindle without him. But I knew better, Edelgard von Hresvelg. I knew what your family was, what they’d been since the day your first putrid ancestor tricked Saint Seiros into crowning him. It was so tragic, that the assassination would go so wrong, that the fire would start and spread so quickly. At least that’s what I told the others. Nothing of the assassin I convinced to form a new plan. An assassin that bravely died to protect the secret. But that doesn’t matter, now. Nothing matters, now, except for the end. Your end.”

Blood pulsed so loud through her that Edelgard could hear her heart pumping it. Her vision turned to a pinpoint with only Seteth’s strained, pompous face visible through her fury.

She shot at him like a bullet, her axe high and ready to bite through his stinking flesh.

Slowly, almost lazily, Seteth reached forward and grasped the edge of the axe, stopping its momentum so quickly Edelgard was shaken.

“H-how?”

He grinned and put another hand forward, red light gathering in his outstretched palm. A hand like a vice gripped her arm and she was wrenched out of the way fractions of a second before a torrent of crimson energy blasted like a geyser through the spot where she had been. When the world stopped moving, Edelgard was on the ground, Byleth over her.

“You poor fool,” Byleth said, “What have you done to yourself?”

“Only what was necessary,” he spat, “To end your terror! To put one wrong to right before I’m reunited with my Flayn!”

She shook her head. “You have signed a contract you cannot understand, and if you ever see your daughter again you will never be able to know her.”

“Enough!” He shouted. “This ends now! You will die!” Seteth suddenly doubled in pain, retching blood onto the ground. “What…what’s happening?!”

Byleth took Edelgard in her arms and shot back to the treeline, putting distance between them and the father as quick as she could. Even from here, Edelgard could see Seteth’s body twist and rend and his skin pulsed and his agonizing screams echoed through the valley. A soldier stepped forward and reached for the cardinal’s should, but Seteth grabbed him by the jaw, his finger’s lengthening as jagged, black scales burst through his skin.

His body twisted and grew, becoming more reptilian as his face lengthened into a massive, razor-toothed muzzle, and great, leathery wings burst from his back. In moments, the man in his grip was pushed to the ground until the growing creature's weight crushed his bones with a terrible sound. The soldiers nearby started to scream and flee, but Seteth’s rapid growth and rising ferocity killed dozens with enormous footfalls and whips of his new tail.

The acolytes, on the other hand, simply backed away calmly, wordlessly observing as their leader morphed into a colossal, draconic monster with great, crimson eyes and the symbol of a strange, looping crest emblazoned on its head. When the transformation stabilized, the beast that was once Seteth Cichol raised its head to the full moon and let out a howl that shook stone and shattered glass.

“What…what happened to him? What is he?”

Byleth was looking, staring at the symbol on the creature’s head. “The Queen’s Symbol, the Crest of Flames,” Byleth stated. She shook her head, seeming to remember where she was, “He can’t contain the power, so it’s twisting him into something that can. He’s nothing but a beast, an engine of destruction.”

“We have to stop him! He can’t win now, not when we’re so close!”

“He won’t.”

Byleth raised a clawed hand to the sky. On the back of her hand, emblazoned in blazing, blue light, the same symbol, the Crest of Flames, appeared. She was encircled by pale light, a corona of whirling energy. Her black scales gleamed all over her body, turning silver-blue like the moon above. Her mane of cobalt hair whooshed around her, shifting to the same vibrant green as her eyes.

The light centered in her outstretched claw, solidifying into a distinct shape: a great blade made of ancient bone with a wide, round crossguard.

“Byleth,” Edelgard gasped, “What…what are you…”

“I am Byleth, the third dragon of hell. I am the Fury of Vengeance, of indomitable will and tireless war. I am the Ashen Demon, the Blade of Destruction, and the red right hand of Lillith, Queen Eternal.”

“Byleth?”

The demon’s reverie broke for just a moment. She looked down at Edelgard at flashed the most genuine smile the princess had ever seen on the demon’s face.

“And I will protect Edelgard. Come, my love, it’s time we go to war.”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Edelgard had less than a second to appreciate the violent beauty of the reborn and revitalized demon that stood over her, shining like a supernova even against the black sky above. It was cut short as a jagged tail of spike and armor plate swept up the ground beneath them like a carpet. Byleth grabbed her and leaped up, righting the princess in the air so they both could land on their feet.

“The dread beast shall be mine,” Byleth announced, “If you can deal with the pretenders.”

Edelgard swallowed hard as she looked over the few dozen black-clad acolytes before her, but she managed to firm the grip on her axe and nod. “Be safe.”

“There is nowhere safer than standing in your defense.” With that gallantry dispersed she shot on silver wings toward the creature that was once Seteth. With a sound like cannon fire she struck it across the face, and though the hit drew no blood pieces of adamant scale were shattered, and the dragon roared as it pursued the much smaller demon.

The princess had only just looked down when the acolytes were on her, swords, polearms, and axes flying like a flock of razor doves. Edelgard managed to raise her axe in defense of the first wave of attacks and jumped back to dodge the next.

A blur of black appeared in her periphery and, by instinct alone, she swung the great-axe in an arc that bisected one of the super-soldiers cleanly at the waist.

She took a breath. Despite how formidable these warriors seemed at the clock tower (earlier that day, or a thousand years ago, she could hardly say) she seemed to have exceeded them in the meantime. There was no understanding what had happened to her body and soul, but she could certainly appreciate the edge. Edelgard grinned and launched herself directly into their forward line, ducking slashes and strikes while whirring the axe like a pinwheel, carving half a dozen of the acolytes to pieces before she hit the ground.

Above, Byleth was having mixed success. She’d managed to lure the dread creature into using it’s wings to pursue her up, trusting its size would grant her the advantage in maneuvering, but even the hell blade was having trouble piercing the thing’s thick armor. It snapped and roared after her, teeth like longswords snapping violently onto empty air as she lobbed strike after strike uselessly against its muzzle.

With a great flap, she rose high above in an instant, opening her jaws and firing a crimson blast of force and fire at the beast. He took it full on the back and was pushed down like a bird hit with a hammer.

Edelgard saw the flash of red and looked up in time to flee before the colossal fiend struck the earth, loosing rock and crushing an unlucky handful of acolytes under its mass. Both women, however, were disappointed as Seteth’s shade heaved itself back onto its feet. It looked straight up at the glittering demon in the sky, opened its jaws, and unleashed its own torrent of red power, though the shade seemed muted and irregular compared to Byleth’s.

She dodged out of the way, fleeing down as the beast turned it’s head to follow her with the beam, turning the tops of trees and nearby peaks to rubble and ash as it hit them.

Edelgard shook her dwindling gang of attackers and ran to assist her love, dashing near to the creature before hurling her axe, end over end, at it’s great, amber eye.

The blade hit inches below its target, chipping scale and drawing the ire of the creature who ended its beam and rounded on Lady Edelgard. With a yelp, she dove to avoid being crushed beneath a great claw and rolled under its wide belly.

The beast writhed and stomped, trying to crush the woman underfoot, and Edelgard was further dismayed to see the remaining ten or so acolytes rushing her from all sides until a blur of silver turned two of them into a fine, pink mist and Byleth was at her side.

Locking immediately into step, the pair of them synchronized, pirouetting out of the way of a great claw as Byleth deflected the edge of three more swords before Edelgard rounded on them, kicking two across the skull so hard their neck’s snapped while the last was pierced through the middle by the bone blade.

Edelgard dodged another swipe. “We need a plan!”

Byleth pushed her away from a swipe of the creature's tail and decapitated another acolyte in one, smooth motion. “It’s head is its weakness, just below the sigil! But the scale is too strong to pierce on my own. Unfortunately, it is the equal of my blade.”

“Equal? I think I have an idea, get us high above it as fast as you can!”

Together they planted a foot in the chest of the final acolyte, crushing ribs and organs with a sickening crunch, before Byleth took Edelgard under the arm and flew her, in a blur, out from and over the monster.

The dragon snapped at them as they rose, but Byleth weaved on wings of light around and continued up as fast as she could manage. The air grew thin and cold before Edelgard bid her to stop. The princess grabbed the greatsword from the demon’s hand and leaned close.

“Drop me,” she commanded, “And fire your beam after me.”

“You could be killed. Burned to cinders.”

She shook her head. “I won’t. You could never hurt me.”

Byleth held her gaze for a fraction of a second. She smiled. “As you command.”

Below the dragon had spotted them and made for the laborious effort of raising its considerable mass upwards. Byleth released her grip on the Imperial princess, and when she had descended a few dozen feet, split her jaws and unleashed all she had to give.

Edelgard could feel the heat of the blast even before she saw scarlet light shine onto the world below. She Swung around, putting the flat of the blade between her and the beam.

The beam couldn’t break the scales, and the scales were as strong as the sword, therefore the beam couldn’t break the sword.

She hoped.

The solace, she supposed, was that she wouldn’t have to lament being long for more than a moment.

The red energy impacted the blade, feeling to Edelgard like the hammer of the gods itself, but it held strong and she felt herself being pushed down with the force of hellfire and damnation itself.

_“I’ve learned too well what happens to those who fight back against them”_

She had been born for this. To exact this vengeance. To right this wrong. To turn her sorrow into furious action.

_“The color of your soul is blue. But there is crimson within it, rage deep inside, much stronger than the blue. You feel anger in the loss.”_

Everything before, every ounce of joy, of childhood innocence, was just a precursor to this fall.

_“I know what that hatred does to a person, how it sublimates into vengeance.”_

There was nothing left but her hatred. Nothing left but her vengeance.

_“Now look at you: tarnished and unclean, bereft of even your humanity.”_

She wasn’t human anymore. She couldn’t afford to be, she didn’t need to be a human. She needed to be a weapon, one so sharp it could cleave through the gods themselves should they stand against her.

_“My steel shall shine so bright that even the light of you Goddess shall turn back to blind her!”_

Byleth had brought her here. She lit her soul aflame and forged her into what she needed to become. This was her fight: she needed to end it.

_“I see you burning, but your skin does not char. I have seen you bloody, but it does not seep into your soul. Your vengeance has made you strong, and your strength makes you amazing.”_

The blade was in her hands, it radiated with power and fury. The screaming maw of the beast rushed at her, larger than life itself.

_“A white rose fed on blood has only two choices: to wither into nothing or to feed and turn itself red.”_

She had become rose fed on blood. A crimson flower stained and hardened by fury. And nothing could bear her rage.

The blade all but moved on its own, swinging through and meeting no resistance at it cleaved the dragon's brow and turned scale to splinter. Edelgard felt a rush of warm, black blood as the beast screeched and howled and fell from the sky.

Her momentum was lost in the slash, but she was still falling until solid, warm arms scooped her up and winged her from gravity’s grasp. Byleth was beaming at her, green eyes glistening under the moonlight.

“My love,” she whispered, “How beautifully you have bloomed.”

The sound of the creature crashing to earth was deafening, so great that the whole mountain below shook from the shock, but Edelgard did not hear it. When her lips met Byleth’s there, hung in the sky, and warmth between them mingled through the chill of the night, there was nothing else in the world worth noticing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for reading! And a special thanks to my wonderful patrons BitterPill, Vornelle, Zakky D, and autonomousAscension for helping make this chapter happen!
> 
> This fight really was a labor of love and I struggled with it, but I think I'm happy with how it turned out in the end. We're seeing the culmination of a lot of story lines here, but there's still more to go before we're done, including the final confrontation with Rhea!
> 
> If you like my work and would like to help support me directly, consider becoming one of my Patreon supporters at http://www.patreon.com/ghostgirldahlia where you can read chapters a week early as well as exclusive original works that I don't post anywhere else! Even a dollar a month means a whole lot to me, so I hope you check it out!


	16. To Slay Gods

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The battle is won, and the final confrontation looms. Archbishop Rhea awaits.

When they finally floated back to earth, the terror beast had gone still. The crest, swooping crest on its pate had been split, clean, and hot blood rushed so quick it filled the crater beneath like a lake of tar.

“What will happen to him?” Edelgard asked.

“The same thing that happens to all who covet hell’s throne,” Byleth said flatly, “He’ll wander the plains of perdition as a mindless beast for all of time.”

“But what happened to you? You look so different, and the things you keep saying…”

She smiled. “I am returned. Lit aflame in glorious combat as I was always meant to be. As I was born to be.”

“So those titles, the Fury of Vengeance, the right hand of…Lillith? Who is Lillith? What does it all mean?”

“There will be time soon to explain. For now, our battle is not over.”

“But you are still…you, right? Byleth, the one I know? The one I…I love?”

Byleth swept a hand around her lover’s waist and pulled her close. “I am that, Edelgard von Hresevelg, and so much more. But have no doubt that it is all for you.”

Edelgard smiled and let out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. “Good. Then let’s finish this, once and for all, and cut the head off this snake.”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The heavy front gates of Garreg Mach swung in effortlessly by the strength of Byleth’s clawed hand, and Edelgard let out a long sigh at the line of silver-clad knights and red soldiers that stood from wall to wall in their way.

“Do you people never learn?” She complained. “Run and you shall live!”

The line broke for a tall man with a thick mustache who stepped in front. He was clad in gleaming plate with an axe in one hand and a painted shield in the other.

“W-w-warriors of the Goddess never flee!” He stuttered. “And evil shall not tread upon these sacred stones without opposition!”

Edelgard was tired of the man’s voice before he even started speaking. She let her legs carry her at blinding speed into the crowd, scattering dozens of armed men like bowling pins, rending the flesh and bone of any who she could reach. Alois blanched while the guards nearest scattered to put distance between them and certain death.

Edelgard wiped a splotch of blood from her cheek. “Oh, you’re Alois, aren’t you? I remember meeting you when I was young. You were funny. I was surprised to find out you were a cardinal.”

“I-I-I am a stalwart servant of Lady Rhea! I do all that is asked of me!”

“Oh, then you probably know where she’s hiding, don’t you? Tell me.”

“Never!” He roared. “Soldiers! Raise arms and attack!”

There was a deep, pregnant pause as the warriors around the hall weighed their options until bravery outweighed their sense and one charged, lance extended. Edelgard didn’t even bother to look his way. The tip was inches from her neck when the whole weapon shattered under silver claws. He had no time to understand before Byleth gripped his neck and snapped it like a twig.

“There,” Edelgard said, “That should be proof enough of what we’ll do. Tell me where the archbishop is or we’ll kill each of these men, one by one. You know they cannot run if we chase.”

Alois was paperwhite but held firm. “Every man here would be proud to give his life for-” Edelgard leaped out brought an elbow down on a shining helmet, crushing the contents in a burst of red. “For, uh…”

Every soldier was paralyzed in fear. Like a mouse stares upon a lion’s maw, they knew only mercy could gift them their lives.

“Tell me now.”

He flinched. “Northeast side of the grounds, past the cathedral. The tall tower. She waits there.”

Edelgard nodded and proceeded toward the high, carpeted stairs, Byleth locking instantly in step behind.

“Anyone who remains when we return will consider his life forfeit.” She looked back over the assembly. “And we will collect all we are due.”

As they ascended toward the north door, Edelgard smiled upon hearing the calamity of thumping boots and clanging armor behind her as half-a-hundred men crammed through to the exit.

“He was a cardinal,” Byleth mentioned, “Should we not kill him?”

“I think we’re beyond that plan, now. Besides, he was a coward. Better he die a thousand shameful deaths that one glorious one.”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The great Church grounds were quiet but for the creak of crickets and the wind that rustled leaves in the trees. The moon was high, now, and shining like a mirror to light their way through the main halls and over a great bridge toward the towering Cathedral.

“What a grand little perch the Church made for itself,” Edelgard mused, “A perfect home where they could watch all of Fodlan suffer.”

“It’s…strange, here. Familiar, somehow.”

“Your memories are back, aren’t they? Could you have been here before?”

She shook her head. “Humans were puzzling how to tie rocks to sticks when I last woke. Nothing like this existed on the Earth.”

“Well, perhaps our host will have some insight. We can ask her before we carve her like a goose.”

Past the cathedral, on the east, they came upon the tower. It was a great, reaching structure, noticeably older than the rest of the Monastery, made of sand-colored bricks instead of grey granite. A short, narrow bridge led to its only entrance: an arched, wooden door that was cracked open letting out a thin line of candlelight.

“How thoughtful of her.” She pushed the door violently, ripping it off its hinges and shattering the old wood to splinters. “Ah, Lady Rhea, there you are.”

Rhea had not been seen in Fodlan in many years, though paintings of her stood all across the three nations. Edelgard was a little surprised to see how much justice they did her: as she turned to face the Adrestian heir, her face even more beautiful than the renderings. She stood from kneeling before a huge, stone tablet carved with delicate images to an impressive height. She wore immaculate robes of white and gold, and her long, emerald hair was topped with a golden headdress.

“You make quite the entrance, Edelgard von Hresvelg,” the Archbishop declared, “I could feel the battle from here. It’s but a shame you do not realize the worst of your fights has yet to come. But before I burn you in the glory of Sothis, tell me how you obtained such infernal stren-”

She froze, her wide, viridian eyes locked in what Edelgard assumed was shock before tears began to well at their edges.

Edelgard, puzzled, looked behind her to where Byleth had just entered the tower, awkwardly angling her wings through the narrow door. She looked up and matched the Archbishop’s expression, which is when Edelgard realized their eyes were the same shade of green.

“Seiros?” Byleth breathed.

The princess was too shocked to respond when the priestess dashed past her and threw her arms around the silver demon, tears flowing freely from her eyes.

“Byleth,” she wept, “You’re alive. After all this time…you’re still alive.”

“Seiros, how…what are you doing here?”

Rhea gripped her shoulders and looked Byleth over, beaming. “It’s a long story. Little sister…I have so much to tell you.”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Somewhere else, long ago, before the Earth was new…

Byleth, Fury of Vengeance, stomped into the castle foyer, self-consciously shaking the red sand from her silver talons before it could sink into the elaborate carpet that filled the center of the great hall. While few, if any, could truly admonish the great demon on any action, she still would prefer to avoid a scolding from the house staff, muted and passive as it might have been.

“Asphodel is cleansed, then?”

She looked up the stairs toward the large doors framed by braziers belching pale, violet light. The woman framed by the flames could not be mistaken for any but the demon’s sister, sharing her alabaster skin and soft green hair. Though unlike Byleth, who wore only scant armor over the pale skin between her scales, this woman’s body was covered mostly in black and gold robes that hugged the edges of a matronly frame.

Byleth nodded. “The Thunder Giant is dispatched, his heresies against her majesty will not be heard again.”

“And his core? Or are we allowing this one to regenerate?”

“The Queen made no preference.” Byleth reached behind to the small, leather pack between her wings tied to the edge of the great scabbard of her blade, extracting a ball of polished stone marked with an arcane rune. She tossed it, effortlessly, up the stairs where the robed demoness caught it without a thought. “Though I thought it best to let you decide his fate, Seiros.”

Byleth’s older sister smiled at her. “You’ve always been more clever than you give yourself credit.” She descended the stairs and put a gentle hand on the warrior’s shoulder. “The fighting never seems to end these days. Are you well?”

“Endless war is my birthright,” she nodded, “I’m fine. The giant caught me in his storm, but it was nothing I couldn’t heal before felling him.”

“The lords of hell become ever more foolish,” Seiros grimaced, “To speak such against their Queen. I’ve only just returned myself from Phlegethon, ousting another pretender to the throne. I fear they will try something again, soon. ”

“Mother’s will is indomitable, and they can never defeat her wisdom with their schemes, or her might with their forces. You worry too much.”

She shrugged. “My lot, I suppose, to fuss over you all. Come, mother and sister surely await news of your victory. Let’s not keep them waiting.”

Byleth followed her sister up the stairs and through the long, twisting halls of the obsidian castle. The deeper they went into its depths, the warmer it became, so much that the shades who served under the household staff would burn if they touched the stone uncovered. Byleth enjoyed the heat as it warmed her scales and softened her muscles. It was exactly what she needed after a long campaign, though she’d never admit that to her sister.

Through great, silver doors they came to a throne room. The ceiling arched more than a hundred feet along rafters of twisting gold and ruby, while the crimson shag led to an onyx plinth upon which sat a high throne of twisting darkness and fire.

To it’s right their middle sibling, as the others by slighter and shorter and clad in short, black robes, fussed over rolled parchments delivered and received by fluttering imps. The throne itself was empty.

Their sister looked up to the sound of the chamber door closing and quickly rushed to Byleth, wrapping her in a quick hug.

“You’re late!” She complained with a grin. “You promised mother this business would only take one turn of the flames.”

Byleth shrugged, apologetically. “Asphodel is a twisting place, and I had not thought the enemy would have the sense to use it.”

“And how did you prevail?”

“It would take the sense of my older sisters to overcome my strength, and you’ve taken that all for yourself Sitri.”

She flashed Byleth bright a smile of razor fangs. “Then I was right to gobble it all up. It’s good to see you, little sister.”

“And you. Where is mother?”

“She rests, for half a turn, yet, since Seiros last left. She complains of weariness in her duties, but in truth, I think she takes to malaise when we are gone and prefers to skip it.”

Seiros chuckled. “Even when just one of us ventures out she falls to shambles. That woman needs more excitement.”

“And what could be more exciting than three daughters who speak of me like a doting matron, my daughter?” In a cloud of smoke and ember, the far wall of the throne room parted for the Queen of Hell, herself. Two heads above her tallest child, she was grand and radiant in a shining, black gown that fell across the stone like dark water. Her clawed limbs were long and elegant, capped with talons like glinting daggers. Her face, from which two curling horns burst forth, was indescribable in its beauty and capped with an emerald shower of flawless locks.

With just a few long, elegant strides she approached her youngest daughter and wrapped her in a tight embrace that Byleth returned with bottomless joy.

“It is as though my heart becomes full, again, now that you are returned, darling.”

“I missed you, too, mother.”

The Queen pulled back, glimmering tears dotting the corners of her eyes. “Come, I shall hear all about you conquest, then we shall hold a feast in all of your honor. Never let it be said that the House of Lillith does not love her Furies to the fullest.”

“Mother,” Sitri rolled her eyes, “Seiros was just delivering testimony, and I haven’t done anything grand of late.”

“Nonsense! While my Fury of Vengeance makes her glory in war, my Fury of Betrayal does so in words! And my precious Fury of Regret,” she cupped Sitri’s cheek, “This kingdom of Hell would fall to ruin without her wisdom and judgment. The only shame is that we do not celebrate it every day! Now come, my loves, and let us make do of lost time.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for reading! And a special thanks to my wonderful patrons BitterPill, Vornelle, Zakky D, and autonomousAscension for helping make this chapter happen!
> 
> I felt like I've been waiting to drop some of this info for months! It feels good to finally get it out. It's a little out there in terms of AU interpretations, but hopefully it fits with the story thus far. Just a bit more to go and plenty more questions to answer!
> 
> If you like my work and would like to help support me directly, consider becoming one of my Patreon supporters at http://www.patreon.com/ghostgirldahlia where you can read chapters a week early as well as exclusive original works that I don't post anywhere else! Even a dollar a month means a whole lot to me, so I hope you check it out!

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> If you enjoy my work, please consider throwing me a few bucks at my patreon at https://www.patreon.com/ghostgirldahlia
> 
> You can get early chapters for all my fics at least a week before they show up here, original and exclusive content, and the occasional NSFW piece as well!


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